Lost Cub
by AW3740
Summary: Oz leaves Sunnydale after the Veruca incident to discover himself. He finds new friends who help him with his “problems”. And he finds a whole world he didn’t know existed. R for Language.
1. Prologue

Authors Notes  
  
---------------------------------------------------  
  
This is a crossover with BtVS and White Wolf's "Vampire - The Masquerade", "Werewolf - The Apocalypse" and "Mage - The Ascension RPG games". I may throw a little X-Files and Highlander in later, but I haven't gotten that far.  
  
This is my first attempt, so be kind.  
  
All BtVS characters are owned by Joss, not me.  
  
The Mage, Werewolf and Vampire game worlds belong to White Wolf.  
  
Original characters Hope, John Conn and Kreig are mine.  
  
Thanks to buffyscripts.net and buffy-slayer.org for scripts and timelines. www.mants-lair.org.uk, www.atpobtvs.com helped as well. Other are there too, so thanks.  
  
This is my first upload to this site, so I'm still figuring out the mechanism. Sorry!  
  
Summary: Oz leaves Sunnydale after the Veruca incident to discover himself. What he finds new friends who help him with his "problems" is a whole world he didn't know existed.  
  
Prologue  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The room appears empty except for a duffle bag on the bed. There's a knock on the door and then Willow, looking exhausted and scared, pokes her head into the room. "Hello?"  
  
Oz moves out of his closet, a pile of clothes in his arms. He looks at her evenly - his manner full of resolve. Turning away he responds with typically minimal effort "Hi."  
  
She knows exactly what's happening, but doesn't want to admit it to herself yet. She has to hear him say it. Already knowing the answer she asks, "What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm going" Oz replies confirming the obvious. He knows this is the only way. The only way to protect her until he can learn to control the beast within.  
  
"Now?"  
  
Oz nods.  
  
"So that's - that's your solution?"  
  
Finally looking at her, "That's my decision."  
  
"Don't I get any say in this?" she pleads.  
  
"No.... Veruca was right about something. The wolf is inside me all the time. And I don't know where the line is anymore, between me and it. Until I figure out what that means, I shouldn't be around you or anybody."  
  
"That could be a problem. 'Cause, people? Pretty much a planetary epidemic."  
  
Oz stuffs the rest of his things into his duffle bag. "I'll find someplace."  
  
"Well how long" Willow asks, thinking maybe a short break would be what they need to get their feelings sorted out, Oz's reply brings a cold feeling to her soul.  
  
"I don't know." He closes his bag and turns to her. Reading volumes into his short reply, Willow realizes that this is goodbye. She's lost him.  
  
"Oz... Don't you love me...?"  
  
With clear effort, he finally looks directly at her. "My whole life, I've never loved anything else."  
  
Willow starts to cry. It's killing Oz to do this, but it's the only way. Finally, he reaches out to her - tentatively. She doesn't stop him. He kisses her forehead. And then they stay like that, forehead to forehead, for a long time.  
  
"Oh God... Oz..." Finally Oz knows he won't go if he waits another moment. He kisses her again quickly, one last time, and then grabs his bag and leaves.  
  
Oz exits his house and gets into his van, starting it, but then hesitates and turns the engine off. After a short pause, Oz brings the van back to life, heads down the road and is gone.  
  
Willow, still standing where he left her, watches as her tears leave a stain on the carpet... Her heart breaking... 


	2. Chapter 1 New Directions

New Directions  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Driving in a semi daze, not really paying attention to where he's going, Oz winds up at the I-5 on-ramps. Having not really thought this out before making his decision to leave, the time to make one now stood before him. Oz pulled over out of the traffic to give himself time to think.  
  
Sticking around Sunnydale is not really an option. He had to put some distance between himself and the Hellmouth. And Willow. Might as well bag the rest of the school year. He wasn't really into school anyway and he wouldn't be the first musician/dropout in the world. Paying back the loans would be a bitch though.  
  
So where does one go to learn how to control the wolf beast that exists inside you? Last time Oz checked it was not an elective course at UC Sunnydale. The monks in Tibet? Yeah, "Excuse me Mr. Dali Lama, I've got this little problem with hair during the full moon." Oz's best guess at the moment was just to wander around for a while; maybe he'd find some mystic or someone who could point him in the right direction.  
  
Which was the question of the moment. Should he go north or south? I-5 stretched the entire west coast, north all the way up to British Columbia in Canada, and south all the way to Tijuana Mexico. He'd told the Dingo's he was going to try and find them some gigs on the road, but didn't give any specifics. As he pondered this, Oz saw a bird land on the top of the road sign. It was small but it looked like a hawk of some sort, not that he would know the difference. Bird watching had never been on his to-do list.  
  
The bird sat there, looking around. Then directed its gaze right at Oz, and kept it there. The damned thing was staring at him! After a few moments though, it took off and flew north. Taking this as a sign (pun intended) Oz decided to go north. Pulling back onto the road he took the northbound on- ramp and began his journey.  
  
But where north? There were a lot of big towns along the way, but didn't he want to avoid them too? Not if he wanted to eat. Making a living with a guitar was always easier in the city than the boondocks. But then what about his "time of the month". Without his cage, he'd be placing people at risk.  
  
The wilderness would be the best place to spend that time, as far away from people as he could get. A wooded wilderness. It would slow his beast down and provide better access to game animals he knew it sought. Maybe if the wolf was satiated on deer, humans wouldn't be a target. Well he had the better part of a month before he'd have to worry about it again.  
  
Sacramento was the next biggest city north on I-5, but it was mostly surrounded by sparse hills and open land. San Francisco was a short detour west, but having been there before it was a little to "weird" for him. Maybe he wanted to get out of California all together. That meant Oregon or Washington.  
  
Portland was a big city, but that was all he knew about it. He'd lived next to Oregon all his life and was mostly clueless about it. Seattle on the other hand he had heard of. There was a big music scene there, and if he remembered correctly, Seattle's environs were considered a rain forest with lots of "wilderness" still left, despite mans interference. Seattle it is.  
  
Of course it would take a couple days to get there, so he set his sights on Sacramento as the first hop, about a five hour drive. Five hours is a long time to be alone with one's thoughts, especially after the recent drama. While in most dictionaries if you look up the word "stoic" you'll find a picture of Oz, that doesn't mean he's heartless. He just doesn't express he feelings outwardly. He keeps it all nicely bottled up thank you.  
  
At the top of his mind of course was Willow. His beautiful Willow. How could he have betrayed her? There was no doubt in his mind that he loved her, and that she was in no way at fault for what happened. She did nothing to deserve the heartbreak Oz just heaped on her.  
  
He could blame Veruca though. Veruca knew full well he was with Willow, but she purposely went after Oz anyway. Hitting on another girl's guy was so not nice. He wouldn't have blamed Willow if she'd cast some serious type hex on either of them. Of course, Oz already took his pound of flesh out of Veruca. Her neck to be specific. He had no regrets about killing her; after all, she was attempting to kill Willow.  
  
But it takes two to tango as they say, so he of course blamed himself the most. But why? Even the Dingos, not the worlds most sought after band, had encounters with groupies. Girls who thought any guy who could play a guitar was a target for her lust. He'd managed to avoid them. It wasn't hard with most, but some were knock-dead gorgeous, and he'd turned them down too, because he already had the most beautiful girl in the world. Willow.  
  
The more he thought about it, the more it came down to one thing; animal instinct. His wolf calling to Veruca's wolf. There must be some kind of pheromone thing involved, but he had no experience to base it on. He just knew that he was a werewolf, cursed after being bitten by his cousin Jordy. Three days a month, before, during and after the full moon, his wolf-ness comes out to play. And afterwards, he doesn't even remember a thing.  
  
Wanting to get as far as he could, Oz passed through Sacramento and found a truck stop north of the city in a town called Woodland. Determined to save as much of his cash as he could, he'd just sleep in the van. Like a lot of truck stops, this one had showers and such, so that was covered.  
  
After finding a place to park, Oz entered the diner, and took a seat at the counter. Ordering a burger and fries, he began to take in his surroundings. Pick any movie you could think of with a truck stop in it, and the extras could have come from this place. Art imitating reality; or is it the other way around? The occupants were your typical flannel shirt, baseball cap wearing redneck truckers. No tourists that he could see, they probably all went to the slightly more upscale Ho-Jo's down the street.  
  
After the quick tour, his burger arrived and Oz began to eat on autopilot, still contemplating the last few days' events. So he didn't notice the guy at the end of the counter who had apparently finished his meal and got up to leave. At least he didn't notice him until the guy swiped Oz across the back of his head with his elbow. Not hard enough to hurt, but Oz had to grab the counter to keep his seat. Then instead of apologizing, the guy growled at him!  
  
The guy looked to be in his forties, Indian, (Excuse me Oz said to himself; "Native American") and smelled of tobacco and beer. "Sam White Cloud you cut that out and go home!" One of the waitresses behind the counter shouted at him, as he was heading out the door anyway. Oz was still a little too stunned to even say anything, but not because he almost got knocked on his ass. He could have sworn that when the Indian growled, he heard "Leave!" instead.  
  
The waitress, whose tag identified her as Marge, apologized for him. "Sorry about old Sam, he drives the local routes around here and doesn't like tourists in what he thinks is "his" place, though he don't own it. How about a slice of pie, on the house?"  
  
Oz just nodded his head and said thanks, now not sure he heard what he thought he'd heard.  
  
After finishing up and using the facilities, Oz headed back to the parking lot. This time he began scanning the area, half expecting trouble. The sun was down and while he was not expecting Vamps, a pissed off Sam White Cloud might just be waiting around for him. Actually a fight might be good just about now, get his frustrations out. However there were a few cops in the diner at the moment and a night in jail would suck. Best to stay out of trouble.  
  
Making it to his van without an encounter, Oz settled into the back and got out a map of the west coast. The next big landmark on the road north was Eugene Oregon. About an 8-hour drive depending on how fast he went and how many stops he made. Portland was about a 2 hour drive beyond that. He'd make Eugene, have some dinner and then head on to Portland and spend the night there. From Portland it was only maybe another three hours to Seattle.  
  
Even though it was still a little early, Oz was exhausted from the day. Setting his watch to wake him at 6AM in order to get an early start, he fell asleep.  
  
A crescendo of pleasure washed over him. Oz has never felt so good, so alive. He looked down at his mate, having just spent his passion within her. She looks glorious, glowing. Her red hair splayed over the pillow, a smile on her lips. "I love you Willow" he whispers and bent down to kiss her. "Oz, who the fuck is Willow?" The scene changed. It's no longer Willow beneath him, it's Veruca! Instead of Willow's bedroom, they are on the leaf covered ground of a forest under a star-lit sky.  
  
Oz attempted to get up, but Veruca grabbed him around the neck in a tight embrace. "Willow could never understand you Oz, I can. She could never accept the beast that resides in you; I can because it's in me too. I can show you things Oz, things you could not even dream of. Power can be yours!"  
  
"You're dead, I killed you!" Oz screamed.  
  
"You can't get away from me that easily Oz! No more then you can run away from yourself!"  
  
Now in a panic, Oz broke free of her embrace and backed up to the edge of the clearing. Veruca stood. Naked, she sauntered towards him seductively, displaying herself to him. "This can be yours Oz, any time you wanted". He was momentarily torn between his lust for Veruca and his love for Willow.  
  
But then, Oz sees her begin to transform. He looked up at the moon and sees that it's in its gibbous phase. "So how could she be transforming?" he thought. Looking back at her, Oz realized this is the first time he'd actually seen a werewolf. He was always on the other end and never remembered any of it. So he stared, transfixed.  
  
Her naked body began to sprout fur; her nails grew into claws, teeth into fangs, and her face into a snout. Her body began to grow a little; she became taller and more muscular. Finally something he didn't expect; her ears grew to look more like bat wings then dog ears.  
  
The Veruca-wolf howled in rage. In his human form, naked, Oz knew he couldn't defend himself against her. So he did what any Scooby would do in this situation. Run.  
  
Veruca howled again and gave chase. Seeing a clear path ahead of him, a deer run or something, Oz stuck to the path. Looking back when he could, Oz saw that he was somehow staying ahead of the Veruca werewolf. He felt sure she would be faster then him.  
  
The path ahead twisted and turned. Oz received many cuts and scratches from branches that lined the path. His bare feet began to hurt from running on the rough ground. He heard Veruca howl again, but it seemed more distant, and somehow desperate. Looking back, he couldn't see her now. Not trusting his luck, he continued running.  
  
After a few minutes, he saw an orange glow up ahead. Slowing, he could see a clearing before him, with a fire burning in the center. A man sat cross- legged on the ground before the fire. Next to him sat a wolf with reddish fur. Atop a tall tree stump with numerous carvings, perched a hawk. The same one from this morning! All three turned to regard him as he entered the clearing.  
  
The man, still looking at Oz, but apparently speaking to the wolf and hawk said "I told you he was Wyrm tainted. We should kill him now and be done with it."  
  
"True", replied the wolf. "I can smell the Black Spiral bitch upon him, as well as the faint smell of leeches." Oz was confused. Not by the statement, but by how he could understand it! The wolf was not speaking English, it was yipping and growing!  
  
The man stood and faced Oz. He was dressed in deerskins and had feathers tied in his hair. A long knife hung from his belt, and a number of bones and claws were strung around his neck. Oz finally recognized him. The Indian from the truck stop, Sam somebody or other.  
  
"As I said, Wyrm scum." Sam reached for his knife and Oz set himself into a defensive posture.  
  
"Stay your hand Killer of Elk. While I too sense the taint, I believe it's on the surface, and not embedded in his spirit." Even more strangely, this was from the hawk. Oz felt he was hearing this in his mind. "We have rites which will clean this taint. One can not stand in the dark for so long that they cannot still be brought back into the light. The pup has not danced on the Black Spiral yet. In any case" continued the hawk, "his journey does not end here. Another Sept will deal with him."  
  
Oz was now growing tired of being talked around as if he weren't there. "Who the hell are you people?" he asked Sam angrily.  
  
"Never you mind pup. Just make sure you're gone from here in the morning. After that, your life is forfeit." Turning, Sam left the clearing. The wolf got up and followed.  
  
Oz, confusion evident on his face, stood there not knowing what to do. Only he and the hawk remained. "Stay on the course you've set for yourself Daniel. It will lead you into the light of Luna and the grace of Gaia. Pick your friends wisely, they will determine your future, and know that those who loved you, still do." With that, the bird of prey rose and flew off into the night.  
  
Noticing that he was now shivering, Oz was reminded of his nakedness. Snatching a blanket from the ground next to where Sam was sitting, Oz wrapped it around himself. Not knowing where he is, or how to get back to where he was, Oz sat down in front of the fire. He leaned up against the hawk's tree stump. Still trying to reconcile what just happened, he nodded off to sleep.  
  
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Oz woke to the sound of his watch's alarm. In his van, in the cloths he fell asleep in. "Crap. It was all just a dream?" Oz said aloud.  
  
It seemed so real to him. And despite the sleep he got, he still felt exhausted. He'd heard of the vivid dreams that Buffy would have on occasion, Slayer dreams they called them. May this was like one of them? Who knows? The specifics of the dream were already beginning to fade.  
  
Putting on the rest of his cloths, Oz wandered over to the main building of the truck stop to make use of its facilities. Refreshed, he got some coffee and donuts to go, and headed back onto the road.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
TBC - The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen  
  
(Okay, which one of you geezers knows the reference?) 


	3. Chapter 2 The Bluest Skies You've Ever ...

The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen  
  
---------------------------------------------------  
  
Rain. It seemed that as soon as he hit the Washington State border, it started to rain. It seemed almost cliché, but Oz guessed these things had at least some basis in reality. The trip through Oregon was uneventful. He'd made Eugene an hour sooner then expected, mostly by ignoring a few speed laws. The truckers helped with this. Oz figured they know where all the cops are. So as long as he paced the trucks, he'd be in good shape.  
  
After dinner in Eugene, Oz made Portland for the last leg of his trip for the day. Repeating his previous night's pit stop, Oz found a truck stop just out of town and bunked in the van for the night. He dreamed again, but not like the "vivid" dream from before. He couldn't even remember it when he woke up.  
  
After leaving Portland, it took less then an hour to cross the Columbia River which marked the Oregon/Washington border. The rain kicked in soon after that. It was really just a light drizzle, not even enough to warrant full-time wipers, and he could leave the window down.  
  
The first real change in scenery came when he got through Olympia and entered Tacoma. He could tell the switch from rural/suburban to urban. It was when he passed the Tacoma Dome sports arena that Oz noticed something else; a smell. He couldn't place it, but it was bad! It wouldn't be until later that he would learn it was called the "Tacoma Aroma", caused by paper mills and refineries dumping sewage into Commencement Bay. Thankfully, it did not last long. Traveling through another suburban stretch, Oz discovered another smell, this time a much more pleasant one; a brewery. The Rainier Brewery to be exact. He'd never tasted the beer, but Oz loved the smell of boiling beer wort.  
  
It was just past the brewery that Oz got his first glimpse of the Emerald City itself. Coming up from the south, most of what he could see was industrial. As he got closer, the downtown buildings and architecture became more apparent. Not knowing what else to do, Oz took the "Downtown" exit, and followed the signs to the "Visitors Center". The place reminded him of San Francisco. Lot's of hills and one-way streets. Oz eventually wound up at a place called Westlake Center.  
  
After parking the van, Oz entered Westlake Center, which looked like a mall more then anything else. It was also one of the two stations for the Seattle Monorail, which led to Seattle's most famous landmark, the Space Needle. Determined to leave those attractions for later (they probably cost money just to enter), Oz found one of those leaflet displays, hawking all of the other sights to see.  
  
Conveniently, one held a map of the whole downtown Seattle area. It showed Westlake Center (You are here!), Seattle Center where the Space Needle is, someplace called Pioneer Square to the south, the water front and someplace called Pike Place Market. He also grabbed a few for some nightclubs in the area that had the potential for a gig for the Dingo's.  
  
Having no desire to cruise a mall, (that was Buffy and Cordelia's gig), Pike Place seemed like a good place to hunt around. It was within walking distance at least. Even though it was just another retail center, the flyer promised something more.  
  
The walk was pleasant enough. The rain had finally stopped, but it was still overcast. It was Mid-November so the air was cold, but not unbearable. Like most cities today, the downtown area was really just one big strip mall. Oz passed stores of every kind; a lot were the chains that appear everywhere, others unique to the Pacific Northwest. To add to yet another stereotype, there was a Starbucks on every corner just about.  
  
One thing that did surprise him was the amount of apparently homeless people on the street. You didn't see too many homeless in Sunnydale, because they were easy prey for Vamps. They learned quickly to move on or become dinner. A few had their hands out, but Oz passed them by like most of the other "upright" citizens. It wasn't a lack of compassion; it did make him feel guilty. It was more like he new he had to conserve what he had, or he'd be right there with them. After all, technically he was homeless now since he'd really run away from home, although he was a little to old to be called a runaway. But he had no place to live other then the van and no source of income. He resolved to do something about that quickly.  
  
Arriving at Pike Place, the first thing Oz noticed was fish flying through the air. At the entrance to the market, behind a life-size bronze piggy bank, stood a fish market. The fish mongers were throwing fish to each other in some kind of bizarre performance art. As an attraction it was great. Oz himself was fascinated and watched for at least 5 minutes. He might have even bought a fish if he'd had a place to cook it.  
  
Tooling around some of the other stalls in the market, he found that the market was an eclectic place. A mixture of open-air stalls and fixed storefronts. Lots of crafty type stuff, hand-made products from clothing to jewelry to paintings. Farm produce stands were in abundance as well. Oz reminded himself of his earlier decision to not do a "mall crawl" a la Cordie so he started to look around for other things of interest. It was then that he spotted a sign directing people "Down Under".  
  
The market was apparently built on the side of a hill, and had multiple levels. Down Under had more shops of course but one in particular caught Oz's attention; a magic shop called the "Conjurer's Cubbyhole". Immediate feelings of guilt over leaving his Wicca girlfriend assaulted him. He debated going in or not. The place certainly looked interesting from the outside. Maybe he could find a present for Willow. She'd probably throw it out the window, but what the heck.  
  
As he entered, the first thing Oz noticed were the "play bill" posters of Houdini and the like covering the walls. Quite a number of them were for a magician billed as "Rudolfo: The King of Magic!" The shop was loaded with standard "mundane" magic paraphernalia. The "Snake in the Nut Can" gag, Trick Cards, Rope Tricks etc. There were also some more professional tricks and theatrical equipment; fake knives, stage blood and masks. Nothing that looked truly magical, not that he'd know something magical if he saw it. He just hoped something would just "jump out" at him.  
  
There were a few customers browsing. The one sales person Oz could see looked up at him as he entered and smiled at him before going back to the customer she was helping. As he was browsing, he kept getting the feeling he was being watched. When he did, Oz would look around, catching the sales girl quickly turning away from him. There were other people in the store, so why the interest in him? He'd like to think it was his smashing good looks but he knew better.  
  
Oz picked up a book of magic spells. He was trying to decide if this was one Willow had already when he got that feeling again. Turing around, he saw the sales girl approaching him. No looking away this time. She was dressed in all black, whether it was a costume for the store or if she was one of the brooding Goth Vamp-wanabe's he didn't know.  
  
"Hi, my name is Lila. Can I help you with something?" The standard line for any sales person.  
  
"Thanks, I'm okay" was Oz's standard response, designed to relieve the sales person of their obligation so Oz would not have to engage the person in conversation. Didn't work this time.  
  
"Are you interested in Magic and the Occult" she asked hopefully. Interested... Oz thought to himself, I live it baby! He didn't say that of course "No, not really. But my girlfriend is. She's Wiccan."  
  
"Oh Cool!" She responded. "I'm in the Blatha An Or Coven, where does she practice? Maybe I know her."  
  
Oz was about to blow her off when he remembered, he came here to gather information. Where to go, what to do, how to get a job. So he decided to indulge in a rare multiple-word conversation.  
  
"I'm not sure. Actually, I just came up from Cali to find work. I'm a musician, just rolled into town a few hours ago. You wouldn't happen to know where I could start to look do you? My name is Oz by the way."  
  
Smiling she said "Sure Oz! There are a lot of clubs along the water front and downtown that have live music. Some of them have bulletin boards where I've seen bands posting want ads. There are also a couple of local rags the musician's use you can get upstairs at the newsstand."  
  
"Wait a minute", she continued. Moving behind the counter she came back with a flyer for a club. "This is a really cool place to go for live music. It's mostly rock and folk, with the occasional celtic act. There is a band playing there tonight I think you'll really like called Red Moon."  
  
Looking at the flyer for a place called the J & M Café & Card Room, Oz saw the logos for the bands that were playing there this week, and then came to the one Lila was referring to, Red Moon. Their logo was that of a red full moon (obviously) partially obscured with white clouds, and wolf below, baying at the moon. A chill went down his spine. Was this a joke or a coincidence? "Cool, thanks" was his only reply.  
  
Moving closer to Oz, Lila whispered to Oz conspiringly "We keep the real stuff in the back if you want to look for something for your girlfriend." She pointed at a door behind the counter marked PRIVATE. "If you're interested, I can see if the boss will let you in for a look. It's kinda pricey though."  
  
"Um, no thanks. I'm sorta on a budget."  
  
"Sure, that's okay. I understand. If there is anything else you need just let me know, I'm here pretty much all the time." Lila informed him. Saying thanks again, Oz left the shop and gathered himself. Despite the odd feelings about the flyer and the band's logo, he decided it couldn't hurt to check it out. Stopping at the news stand, he picked up a few of those newspapers Lila mentioned.  
  
It was going on 6 PM, and the flyer said the band didn't get going until 10. The sun was already going down, so it would be dark soon. With a few hours to kill Oz decided to get something to eat and then head towards the van. He'd looked at some menus during his wandering and most of them were a little over priced. This was a tourist area after all. As he was walking, his salvation appeared before him. The Golden Arches; always there when you need them.  
  
------------------------------------------------------  
  
TBC - Meeting New Friends 


	4. Chapter 3 Meeting New Friends

Meeting New Friends  
  
------------------------------------------------------  
  
Ordering the #1 combo, he sat at the table by the window and watched the street traffic walk by as he ate. Tourists and wage slaves going home for the day, the night crowd starting to emerge. Willow's words came back to him again, "People; pretty much a planetary epidemic."  
  
Which reminded him of his other problem. He'd have to find some type of national parks map that listed the wilderness areas around here. He knew from his west coast map that there is a huge National Forest in the Olympic Mountain range. He could head over there during his time of the month and just let his wolf run wild. There was less chance of running into a human that way and possibly hurting them.  
  
There were also islands to the north. Could one of them be uninhabited? How could he find that out? Oz supposed he could get a boat and just strand himself on one for a few days. Could werewolves swim?  
  
As Oz was pondering this, one of the many homeless people in the area passed by Oz's window. Oz watched him as he passed out of the corner of his eye, but then the man did a double-take. He stared at Oz for a moment, and then a smile crept to his face. An unsettling sort of smile to Oz.  
  
He was wearing beat up jeans, an army fatigue shirt and combat boots that has seen better days. A well worn backpack completed the ensemble. He looked like he'd not seen a shower in a while too. The most interesting thing about him was that he had a number of small objects dangling from his shirt, backpack and a necklace that he wore. Some of these looked like bones, others were just bottle caps or key chains, even bits of string tied in intricate knots.  
  
Then the guy started pointing at the food on Oz's table, with a look on his face as if to say "Are you finished with that?" The guilt from before returned. Oz motioned to the guy to stay where he was. Not wanting to give the guy scraps, Oz bought another #1 combo from his dwindling supply of money and brought it out to the guy. "Here."  
  
"Thank you young cub, I shall mention you to the spirits of the city and they shall protect you." Stepping off to leave, the man turned, "A word of advice to you, since you seem to be new around here. Stay away from the piers at night, they crawl with leeches. Find friends quickly, there is safety in numbers if nowhere else." Then, plucking one of the bits of string from his backpack's strap, he pinned it on Oz's shirt and said, "Wear this and be acknowledged as a friend to the Gnawers." and he left.  
  
Looking at what the guy put on him Oz saw that it was made of multiple pieces of string, tied in knots that formed a pattern. It looked sort of like a Chinese ideogram. Oz almost threw it away, but decided it looked kinda cool, so he left it there. It might look good hanging from the rear- view mirror of the van.  
  
Speaking of which, he should probably head over to where he parked it and make his way over towards the J&M Café. He didn't want to leave it parked overnight where it was anyway. Maybe he'd find a better spot by the club.  
  
The club was located in a neighborhood called Pioneer Square. There were a lot of flyers at the visitor's center that revolved around the place so with a few hours to kill, Oz figured he'd check out the area.  
  
Arriving there he discovered that the place was the "old town" of Seattle. Lots of old buildings, even some cobblestone streets. Finding a parking space near the club took a while but he found one not too far away. Oz decided to walk around awhile and get the feel of the place. The architecture was certainly different from where he'd just left. Everything here looked like it dated from the turn of the century. He past a place called "Doc Maynards" which boasted a tour of the "Seattle Underground". Having spent time in the "Sunnydale Underground", Oz decided to skip that.  
  
Oz also noticed that despite this being a "tourist" section of Seattle, there appeared to be even more homeless down here, especially along a street called "Yesler Way". It was as he was making his way back towards the J&M Café that ran into some trouble.  
  
Oz saw two people walking towards him, illuminated in the street lamps. The guy looked like the typical Punk type. Black leather jacket done up with chains and safety pins, shocking pink Mohawk for hair. The girl didn't look like she fit with him, she was more of a preppy type. Nice sweater, slacks not jeans. They were not talking to one another. The punk had his arm around her, almost supporting or leading her. About 50 feet in front of Oz, they turned into an alleyway. Oz would have just kept going, but he'd smelt something coming from the ally; blood.  
  
Great, and the slayer is 1000 miles away. Looking around for a weapon, he found a broken produce crate. Taking a piece, Oz entered the ally as quietly as he could. Sure enough, about 10 yards in he found the girl up against the way and the punk had he face buried in her neck.  
  
Still thinking he'd not been noticed, Oz crept up on the pair, intent on staking the vamp from behind. He'd gotten perhaps 3 steps when the vamp swirled around. "What the hell do you want dog!"  
  
He victim's blood was smeared all over his lower face, his fangs long and thin. What struck Oz though was the facial ridges that usually appeared when a vamp was in "game face" were not there. Except for the blood and fangs, he looked "normal".  
  
"Get away from her bloodsucker!" Oz screamed.  
  
The vamp leg go of the girl's body and faster then Oz could have believed possible, the vamp rushed up to him and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground one-handed. The vamp got into Oz's face "It's not polite to interrupt ones dinner!"  
  
Oz still had the stake in his hand and he made a jab at the thing, but missed and hit it in the shoulder.  
  
"Ahh.! I am so going to kill you now!" Grasping Oz with one hand it raised the other over Oz's head. Oz could see claws extending from its hand, and could feel the ones around his neck start to pierce flesh. Before the creatures hand descended, both of them were knocked to the ground.  
  
Breaking free of the vamps grip, Oz got up and scrambled away from it, slamming up against the alley wall. They'd both been tackled by what looked to Oz to be one of the homeless people. The both of them got up as well, the vamp hissed at the homeless guy.  
  
"You're treading on thin ice mutt!" the vamp screamed at the guy.  
  
"This is our territory leech and you know it!" he replied. "We could kill you now and no one would fault us. Go back to where you belong."  
  
"We? Who you and the kid? I don't think so!"  
  
It was then that more people started to make their presence known in the alley. Six altogether and all apparently homeless by their dress and lack of hygiene.  
  
The vamp decided that 7 to 1 odds were not in his favor, so he ran, quicker then anything Oz has ever seen. One of the six who'd appeared went to examine the fallen girl. "She's alive, but needs a hospital." He picked her up and left the alley.  
  
Oz turned to his original savior "Who are you people?" he asked.  
  
Pointing at the strange thing the homeless guy had given Oz earlier; the guy replied "The Bone Gnawers look after our friends. I suggest you stay out of alleyways cub, if you can't defend yourself." He then turned and left. Oz looked around and all of the others had disappeared too.  
  
Oz moved to follow the first one, but his jacket got caught on something on the wall. Freeing himself he got back onto the street, but he couldn't find a trace of the homeless guy.  
  
He looked back down at the badge or whatever it was he'd been given. Still not knowing what it meant, he was glad he'd not thrown it away at least. Reaching up to his neck he found four little puncture marks from the things claws. Nothing life threatening. After tonight he'd start carrying a stake.  
  
Oz brushed the dirt off of himself as best he could. Deciding he was still presentable, Oz continued on his way to the J&M Café. After all, things just as strange happened to him in Sunnydale, and they'd all go to the Bronze after didn't they?  
  
Approaching it from the outside, it looked like any other pub/bar Oz had ever been to. Inside was different. The bar looked just like one of those old time saloons you see in the movies. There were modern touches of course, but the woodwork was detailed and rich looking. The ceiling was at least 15 feet tall; with wainscoting covering almost half the distance up the wall. The rest was taken up by a paisley looking wall paper that Oz could have done without. Large wood framed mirrors hung above the wainscoting in places. The bar itself was a work of art. Both recent and old pictures hung from the walls all over, documenting the clubs history. Apparently the upstairs part used to be a brothel.  
  
With the band about to go on, the place was fairly crowed already. There was a $3 cover charge at the door, but no one carded him. Not wanting to risk it a second time Oz only ordered a cola at the bar, which cost him $2. He decided to nurse it all night if he could.  
  
Looking towards the stage, Oz noted the band members arriving. First was a rather well dressed male about 20-25 Oz figured. He wore slacks and white shirt, loose jacket and pencil thin tie. He began to arrange himself behind the keyboard setup. In addition to multiple keyboards it looked like he had a laptop on a stand above the whole mess. He also had a cooler sitting next to him, from which he pulled out a bottle of Mountain Dew.  
  
The bassist took the stage. He looked like a biker, pro wrestler wannabe. A big guy, perhaps 6 foot 2, built solid and no fat. He wore black leather pants with a black leather vest and no shirt. Tribal looking tats covered both arms. Now that he thought about it he looked kinda like the Undertaker from the WWF but with blond hair.  
  
Next was the lead guitar player, who was going for the grunge look. Tee shirt, torn jeans and a flannel shirt. Nothing else that remarkable about him except that he looked to be the oldest of the group. Following him was a rather good looking girl. Medium height with brown hair. She had a tambourine in hand, so was probably backup and female lead singer.  
  
As they tuned up a little, Oz noticed the drummer was still not on stage. He also noticed that the drum kit is arranged differently then he'd ever seen. All the pieces are there, it was just that some of them are farther apart then they should be. The drummer's absence is soon explained as the lead guitarist approached the mic.  
  
"Ladies and gentleman, good evening. We are Red Moon and we'll be your night's entertainment." A smattering of applause from the audience. "As always, we like to give a special introduction for our drummer as he makes his entrance. We don't know why, but he's an F'ing prima-donna and insists upon it." Laughs from the audience. "But mostly because we want you to know he's coming so he doesn't step on you!" More laughs, and a loud "Oiy" from backstage.  
  
"So without further ado, we give you the great, the powerful, the Mighty Conn!" The audience begins to clap and cheer, but some of the cheers merged into expressions of amazement. With good reason as Oz is amazed himself. The person who emerged from back stage was over seven feet! Most overly tall people you see are rail thin, but not Conn. He must weight at least 500 pounds, and all muscle to boot! He looked like he should be in the WWF, not some local rock band! His hair was long and red, done up in a braided ponytail, and he had short red beard as well.  
  
As he sat down behind his drum kit, the reason for the strange configuration became obvious. Things had to be set higher and farther apart just for him to fit behind the damned thing! The drum sticks looked like pencils in his hands!  
  
They begin their set with a cover tune, Van Halen's "Jump". The musician in Oz immediately began to sum up their ability. Technically they sounded great, doing an almost note-for-note rendition of the song. The lead singer is good too, but that fact that he doesn't really sound like David Lee Roth throws things off a bit. The crowd doesn't seem to mind.  
  
The rest of the set is a mix of cover tunes and a few original songs which have promise, but probably won't get recorded. They even launch into the occasional Celtic influenced piece. For two songs Conn actually brought out bagpipes. After he was done, he told the audience "Ye lasses 'ave to appreciate a man who can blow, finger, 'n squeeze all at the same time!" The men howled and the woman blushed.  
  
Oz continued to listen and nurse his now warm cola. Occasionally he noticed the keyboard player going to the laptop and he wondered what he was doing with it. His actions didn't seem to correspond to the music being played.  
  
As Oz was pondering this, he noticed the keyboard player was scanning the audience in his general direction. He quickly found Oz, looked right at him, and smiled. This kicked Oz's "Oh Shit-o-meter" up a notch. "Well, I was looking at him too" Oz thought. Most people, including him, have experienced that tingle when you know someone is looking at you. After all, it happened to Oz just this afternoon at the Magic Shop.  
  
The lead singer declared the end of their first set and that they would take a 20 minute break. He and backup singer headed backstage. The bass player and the giant behind the drums headed for the bar. The keyboard player stepped off the stage and headed right for Oz. Send that meter up another notch. Not knowing what to think, and growing more paranoid by the second, Oz figured it was time to hit the door.  
  
As Oz turned to leave, he ran right smack into one the bouncers. "Sorry", Oz offered, not wanting to antagonize the guy. "No problem kid". But then they proceeded to do that weird dance where each wanted to get out of the other ones way, but they both kept going the same direction. Getting around him finally, Oz found a waitress with a heavy tray blocking him. Moving around her Oz got about 10 feet from the door, when a whole crowd of people started to enter, blocking his exit. From behind Oz heard "Excuse me..." Crap, too late.  
  
Oz turned and there was the keyboard player from the band, his hand out in greeting. "Hi, my name's Derrick. I think you and I need to talk". "What the hell is going on" Oz said to himself.  
  
Pointedly not shaking the guy's hand, "I really need to get going".  
  
"Really?" replied Derrick withdrawing his hand. "That would be a shame, since I think you don't have a clue about who you are and what's happening in your life. And I know some people who might be able to provide you with some answers."  
  
"Look pal, you don't know me, so what could you possibly know about my life?"  
  
"Well actually it's not my place to tell you; that would be my friends. It won't cost you anything; I'm not selling anything. Information is free, as it should be, but I promise it will be worth your time."  
  
Oz was now intrigued, but still hesitant. "Okay, where are these friends of yours."  
  
"My band-mates actually." Derrick looked towards the bar and Oz follows his gaze. They see the bass player with a pint in one hand and chatting to a pretty girl. The giant had a beer as well, only it was an entire pitcher! He's just finished draining it and was handing it back to the bartender asking for more.  
  
"Those two will get peeved if we interrupt their beer break" Stated Derrick. "Let's go find the others". Derrick heads off towards the back stage area, looking back to make sure Oz was following.  
  
He led Oz to a small dressing room and knocked on the door. "Everyone decent?" he asked. They both heard a muffled "yes" from inside, and Derrick opened the door. Inside are the lead guitarist/singer and the female of the band. "Look who I found! These are my friends and band-mates John and Hope, guys this is.?" He looked at Oz to fill in the blank.  
  
"Uh, Oz."  
  
"Hi Oz!" they all replied simultaneously. Looking at Hope, Derrick continued "I think Oz here might be the subject of your last conversation with Merlin."  
  
A look of surprise mixed with excitement came to Hope's face. John's as well. Oz also noticed him looking at the doodad the homeless guy pinned to his shirt. Hope looked at Oz, really looked at him, as if she was peering into his soul. "Oh wow! You're right!" she exclaimed.  
  
She got up and stood before Oz, taking his hands into hers. He warmed at the touch. "Oz look, I know things at the moment seem a little weird, but you and I really need to talk. The problem is that this is not the best time or place to do that, and we all have to be back on stage in a few minutes. Can you stick around and then head back to our place with us after the last set?"  
  
Oz pondered. What the hell was all the mystery about? "You can't just tell me now?" he asked.  
  
"Well I could give you the short version, but you'd probably freak" Hope replied. "I'd much rather give you the long version and that will take time. For now just know that we've been looking for you in order to help you, and here you go and drop yourself at our feet! So what do you say?"  
  
"Looking for me? Who told you to look for me? Was it Willow, Giles!?" His agitation was clear.  
  
"All part of the explanation Oz. Please, just trust me."  
  
"Okay, I'll wait" What else could he say? His curiosity was now peeked.  
  
Derrick patted him on the back, "Great! Lets' head back out". They all left the backstage area. John and Hope took to the stage and Derrick brought Oz to a seat not too far from the there. Oz could have sworn a whole group of people were sitting there not 5 minutes ago. Derrick intercepted a waitress, whispering something to her and pointing at Oz. As Derrick took the stage, the waitress appeared before Oz.  
  
"Derrick says the rest of your night is on him; what can I get you?"  
  
Cool, it was getting rather tiresome carrying a warm half-filled glass of soda. "Um, can I get a beer?"  
  
"Sure, which one" pointing to a chalk board on the wall. It listed almost 30 different beers, both on tap and in bottles.  
  
Not knowing what most of them are, Oz chose something he at least has had before. "Um, Guinness Stout". She nodded and walked to the bar.  
  
As the waitress returned with his stout, Red Moon started playing again. This time he noticed the other players in the band looking his way, appraisingly. Oz got the feeling that the two big guys are sizing him up.  
  
Towards midnight they finished their last set, thanked the crowd and said goodnight. Canned music filled the air as they exited the stage. Oz waited at his table. A few minutes later Derrick appeared with the rest of the band.  
  
"Oz, here are the two of us you haven't met yet, Conn and Krieg". Krieg just nodded then grunted "Hey".  
  
Conn however broached a broad smile and extended his hand to Oz. "Top o' the evening to ye me boyo! 'Er we kinned we'd 'ave to search weeks to find ye!" Oz takes his hand and prepares for the worst. Conn's hand totally encased his own. His grip is firm, but not the crushing vise Oz expected. Some guys look at a handshake as a test of machismo. Conn guy obviously didn't, or was letting Oz off the hook.  
  
"Where are you parked?" Derrick asked. Oz told him. "Okay, great. Our place is not far from here. Why don't I drive with you so you don't get lost? The others will probably beat us there."  
  
Oz nodded his acceptance of the idea and they all departed. On the way to where Oz is parked, they passed the rest of the band's rides. Of course there is the ubiquitous van; every band has one in order to carry equipment. John and Hope got in, waving to Oz and Derrick. Krieg saddled a really cool looking Harley. "Ha, I was right!" Oz said to himself.  
  
Then Oz sees Conn's bike. It occurred to him then, what kind of transportation could accommodate a person of his size? The answer apparently was a three wheeler motorcycle. A BIG one. Oz was not sure of the make, but it looked like the dammed thing had eight cylinders! Even at that, it looked more like a kid's toy when Conn straddled it.  
  
After getting into Oz's van and getting onto the street, Derrick began directing Oz back towards the way he came from, but more towards the waterfront. The homeless guy's words came back to Oz; "Stay away from the piers at night, they crawl with leeches." Instead of the piers though Derrick lead him to a light industrial area situated under an elevated highway. Derrick pointed out a particular building and told Oz to park in an ally beside it. Oz could see the others just pulling in ahead of him.  
  
They entered what appeared to be a garage or machine shop from the outside. Old signs were still there to attest to that. He could see a lot of graffiti on the outside as well. Some of the designs actually looked like the tats Krieg is wearing.  
  
Once inside it was obvious that whatever the buildings original use was, it has since been converted to a living space. The ground floor where the shop previously resided was decked out as a large recreation room. A kitchen and bar were along one wall, a pool table, a number of sofas and other types of seating were in the middle of the room. A big screen TV and sound system dominated one wall. On the opposite wall Oz could see the telltale signs of a band's practice area, mike stands, amps and speakers. Some stairs that led up to what Oz supposed are bedrooms and such. You could have a hell of a party here.  
  
A large dog, no make that wolf, got up from its bed and greeted them as they entered. It growled a little at Oz. "That's JYD. Don't mind him," said John "his bark is worse than his bite." At which the wolf growled again, but at John. Then he went right up to Oz and sniffed at the knot-thing the homeless guy gave Oz. He looked up at Oz and let out a little yip.  
  
John noticed the object of JYD's attention. "Where did you get that Oz?"  
  
"A homeless guy needed some food, so I bought him a Big Mac and some Fries. He gave me this."  
  
Seeming satisfied, JYD went back to his bed and lay down again.  
  
Looking at JYD John said, "You might want to be more careful about feeding strays Oz, they'll never leave after that." The group laughed, but JYD growled at him again.  
  
After dumping their gear, Conn and Krieg headed for the bar. The others brought Oz over to the sofa arrangement. Hope motioned for Oz to sit on a particular one and she sat down opposite to him. She paused as if to gather her thoughts.  
  
"Okay, where to begin. First who told us to look for you? I don't know who Willow or Giles are, I'm assuming they are friends of yours, but I don't know them. The one who told me about you was Merlin, my totem spirit guide. She told me that a lost cub was heading our way and that we were to find him and help him. That was over two weeks ago."  
  
"Two weeks? I only made the decision to leave two days ago!" Oz was perplexed, but not thrown. He been involved with the Scooby Gang for long enough that it would take a little more then that to throw him. "Lost cub?" He asked.  
  
"Yeah, you see Oz, I don't know if you know it or not, but you're a werewolf."  
  
Now he was a little thrown. Slightly panicked Oz stood and looked at her. "I know that, but how do you know that!" Looking around Oz sees the others are all intent on the conversation as well.  
  
Hope looked around at her band-mates, "I guess we need to show him." All of them but Derrick nodded and stood up; Conn and Krieg put their drinks down.  
  
"Oz, please try to remain calm. Remember we are here to help you" Hope stated, and then closed her eyes. After a moment she began to transform. Her clothes seemed to meld into her as her limbs and body began to elongate. Fur sprouted from everywhere. The now familiar claws and fangs descended. Despite Hope's warning Oz started to panic.  
  
Recalling his dream of Veruca the night before; he made the realization that something was different. Veruca's wolf form was somehow demonic. The Hope-Wolf before him now was nothing of the sort. Oh sure she was a werewolf, but kind of a cute one. A cute werewolf?  
  
Looking around he sees the others have transformed as well, even JYD! While still frightening in their own right, the demonic visage that Veruca had was not evident in any of them.  
  
But his heart almost stopped when he got to the Conn werewolf. He'd never seen anything so huge! Not even the Demon's he'd seen in Sunnydale came close. The creature was almost 11 feet tall and had to weight at least a ton! Thank God for the concrete floor. He could also swear that the Conn werewolf was smiling and laughing at him. Oz's only response to all this was "Damn."  
  
Hearing a laugh behind him, Oz turns to see Derrick, still in human form. "Awe inspiring isn't he? They all are. FYI, I'm not a werewolf, I'm 100% human thank you."  
  
The werewolves transformed back into their human selves. "How can you do that? It won't be a full moon again for two weeks" Oz exclaimed.  
  
The group responded with laughter. "Oh boy, have we got a lot of work ahead" stated John, going to the bar to get himself a beer.  
  
Hope caught Oz's attention. "Oz I can only assume that what little you know about yourself is incorrect so you are going to have to unlearn a few things. First, you are not a werewolf per say, at least not the Hollywood type. You, me and my pack mates are a race of beings called Garou. Werewolf is what humans call us. What you just saw was us assuming what we call our Crinos or battle form. There are other forms a Garou can take as you'll learn."  
  
"The Garou are an amalgamation of what is human, wolf, and magic. We've been around for millennia. We are the champions of Gaia, the Earth Mother. Born to serve and protect her from the ravages of the Wyrm, the normal pattern of decay that became insane. And so are you. Merlin referred to you as a Lost Cub because you went through your first "change" without being found by a Garou tribe or Sept. You have no understanding of what you are and what it means to be a Garou. We will help you along the path of understanding so that you can fulfill your destiny."  
  
"But how come my change only happens at night during a full moon?"  
  
"That's because you are not in touch with your Rage. It's the source of a Garou's strength and what allows us to control the change. Your subconscious spirit knows what you are, but your conscious mind only knows the Hollywood stereotype and it forces you into that mold. We can help you change that."  
  
"Perception is reality. Perception is information. Information is data. Change the data, change reality" added Derrick. He had moved over to a part of the room Oz hadn't seen before. Kind of an alcove, it contained a large amount of computer equipment and a large reclining chair the looked like a fighter pilot's seat. He attached a curious set of goggles via a cord to the laptop and placed them over his eyes. He had gloves on his hands that are also wired to the laptop and he was gesturing wilding with his hands. "See ya in the morning kids!" Derrick slumped back into his seat and became motionless.  
  
John stepped in front of Oz. "Look Oz, it's getting late. We could stay up all night long answering questions, but we are all tired. Do you have a place to stay?"  
  
Oz shrugged. "Just the van."  
  
"Well, we can do better then that. There's a spare bedroom upstairs. In the morning we can answer more of your questions and you can tell us more about yourself. Tomorrow we'll take you out to the Caern, a holy place for lack of a better term, and introduce you to the other Garou in the area. Then you can decide what you want to do from there."  
  
Oz acceded with a nod. John led him up the stair case to a corridor with many doors, almost like a hotel. He opened the second door on the right. "It's not the Hilton, but the sheets are fresh. The big guy down stairs belongs to the Fianna tribe, and sometimes I think their lives revolve around partying! Besides our own we keep a couple of these rooms as crash space for those too drunk to go home."  
  
The room contained a queen-size bed, a dresser and a night stand. In the back was a door Oz assumed led to a bathroom. The only window looked out over the ally where they parked the vehicles. "You gonna be okay in here, you need anything?"  
  
"I'm cool."  
  
"By the way, that thing the homeless guy gave you? It's called a fetish. This particular one marks you as being under the protection of the local Bone Gnawers tribe, such as it is. The guy who gave it to you is called Finder, and he's well respected amongst their tribe. Some Garou might look down on it, but not us. Wear it, especially when you're in town."  
  
"Cool" said Oz, looking at his fetish. That explained the guys in the alley at least.  
  
"Okay, see you in the morning." John closed the door.  
  
Oz sat on the bed and his mind began to process the revelations just heaped upon him. It was one hell of a day. When he set out on this journey of self discovery he had no idea where it would lead and had thought it might take years. Now within only two days of his departure from Sunnydale, be practically stumbled onto the very group of people who can help him.  
  
Wait, not stumbled. He realized just now that he was led here, by the hawk! What was it? Some kind of spirit? He supposed he'd find out more later. Exhaustion finally won out and lying down, he drifted to sleep.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------- TBC - Revelations 


	5. Chapter 4 Revelations

Revelations  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
The smell of coffee and bacon woke him. Looking at his watch it was 10:30AM. Good, at least these people didn't get up at the crack of dawn. After making his morning ablutions, Oz headed downstairs. Everyone but Krieg was there. Conn was in the kitchen cooking breakfast for everyone. As he saw Oz come down the stairs, Conn picked up a plate and heaped it with bacon, scrambled eggs, and home fries. The plate almost became invisible under the pile.  
  
"Here you go Oz, help ye self to coffee or OJ." Oz sat himself down next to Hope.  
  
"Conn has a problem with portion control Oz. Mostly because he eats five times as much as anyone else. He also doesn't trust anyone else's cooking, but since he's the best cook in the pack, we leave that up to him. The rest of us take turns cleaning up."  
  
Oz dug in. His normal breakfast was a pop tart and maybe a bowl of cereal, but Hope was right, this was very good. Oz noticed Derrick was in the exact same place and position they left him in last night. "What's with him?" Oz asked.  
  
John got up and grabbed a large coffee mug. Filling it to the brim he walked over to Derrick. "He's zoned out. It's a kind of an out-of-body thing he does, launching himself into what he calls the Digital Web. He could stay like that for days if we let him."  
  
John waved the mug under Derrick's nose. After a moment Derrick stirred. He took off the goggles he was wearing and placed them in a case before grabbing the mug and downing half of it in a few seconds. "Ah, nectar of the Gods."  
  
Derrick got up, grabbed a power bar from a cabinet in the kitchen and seated himself with everyone else. "Good morning all! And how did our guest sleep last night?"  
  
"Fine, thanks."  
  
Derrick chuckled. "I've already noticed in your short time with us Oz that you are an economist with words. They are free you know?"  
  
Oz replied "I know", eliciting more chuckles from all around.  
  
Krieg finally came downstairs and joined them. After getting his plate from Conn, he sat down with a grunt.  
  
As everyone continued to eat, Hope turned to Oz. "Well I think it's time for a few more explanations. We told you our names Oz, but we should probably go a little further. Most Garou have a human name and a Garou name. My name is Hope as you know, but my Garou name is "Blue Sky". I am of the Children of Gaia tribe, and I am whats known as a Philodox or the Keeper of the Ways. We act as judges and mediators. I'm also the leader of the Red Moon pack."  
  
"John "Talks to the Wind" Smith here is also a Child of Gaia, and he is a Theurge. He is sort of our Shaman. He communes with the spirits, getting information from them and generally keeping them happy with respects to the pack. He's also our healer, although I have a little talent in that area too."  
  
Pointing to the two big guys, Hope continued. "Krieg "War Dog" Magnusson is of the Get of Fenris tribe and is an Ahroun or Warrior. All Garou are fearsome in battle, but the Ahrouns excel in it. And of course we have Conn "Towers Over the Wyrm" MacNessa. He is an Ahroun as well and of the Fianna tribe.  
  
"Derrick, as he so proudly announced, is not a Garou. He is a Mage from the tradition known as the Virtual Adepts. Computer whizzes and information junkies. We hooked up a while back when our missions crossed. We consider him part of the pack, but it's not official. Garou society does not allow it. Technically, he's also our employer. A little scheme he cooked up. Using some money he "repatriated" from the Wyrm, Derrick set up a few shell companies to hide the trail, and now we get paid to fight the Wyrm!"  
  
"How many of us are there?" Oz asked.  
  
"I'm not sure of the exact count, but I'd say in the 500,000 range, maybe less. Our numbers have been dwindling of late. There are 13 Tribes of Garou. The Garou also have organized "Septs", which are communities made up of either members of one tribe or of many. Each Sept is centered on and protects a Garou holy area known as a Cearn. Within the Sept some Garou form packs such as ours. These are usually friends who choose to run together."  
  
"I spoke with Jeanette this morning. She is the local Sept's Den Mother, what we call our teacher of the young ones. She's looking forward to meeting you. She'll be at the Caern tonight. We can catch the 2 o'clock ferry and be there before nightfall. Tonight will be your introduction to the Sept, and there you'll learn more about us."  
  
"In the mean time Oz, why don't you tell us some more about yourself?"  
  
A small amount of panic gripped him. As Derrick pointed out, public speaking is not his forte. Plus, he just met these people, how much should he tell them? Up until a few months ago Oz was a typical American teenager, nothing out of the ordinary. He'd never talked to anyone else about the Hellmouth type stuff going on except with the Scooby gang, and they are the ones who woke him up to it. No one would believe it anyway. Then Oz supposed telling a bunch of werewolves about the Hellmouth wasn't that far of a stretch.  
  
"Well, my real name in Daniel Osborne, I was born and raised in Sunnydale California. I led a pretty normal life, I went to high school, and played in a rock band; "Dingos Ate My Baby." That got a few more laughs.  
  
"You're a musician too!" Exclaimed Hope.  
  
"Yeah, guitar. We're good for a bunch of teenagers. Anyway, everything changed when I met my girlfriend, Willow."  
  
"Our first date was a surprise birthday party for Willow's best friend Buffy. We had one of the local clubs to ourselves, all decked out for the party. It was only Willow and me, Willow's friend Xander and his girlfriend Cordelia, two teachers from school, Mr. Giles and Ms. Calendar and Buffy's boyfriend Angel. We were all waiting for Buffy to show up, when she literally came crashing in, through a window near the stage. Buffy and some huge guy landed on the stage, at which point Buffy takes a wooden stake, plunges it into the guys chest, and poof he explodes into dust. Turns out he was a Vampire."  
  
Krieg held up his hand. "Wait, stop. This girl stakes a Vamp and he turns to dust? That's not what happens when you stake a vamp."  
  
Oz was perplexed, first because he thought they might not believe him about Vampires, despite being werewolves themselves. And second because he'd dusted a few himself. "What do you mean that's not how it happens? I've seen Buffy dust tons of Vamps, and I've staked a few myself. Poof."  
  
The pack looked around at each other questioningly. "Oz," continued Krieg, "We've had the occasion to stake a few leeches ourselves and it does not make them explode into dust, it just freezes them. Sends them into torpor. As soon as you pull the stake, they're back again. And tons of vamps? How is she still alive? Why haven't they called a Blood Hunt down on her?"  
  
Oz had no answer so he just shrugged his shoulders. Hope suggested that they let Oz continue. "Well, it was then that they explained to me that Sunnydale sits on top of the Hellmouth, a gateway to hell. Despite the fact that it's currently closed, it attracts Vampires and other demons like moths to a flame. And some demon yahoo is always trying to open it. Buffy is "The Slayer", the chosen one. To quote her Watcher; "In every generation, a Slayer is born. The one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, born with the strength and skill to fight the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers." "Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Sounds like a bad TV show to me" replied Krieg. "Look Oz we're not doubting you, but we are sort of in the whole fight back against evil biz ourselves. All Garou are or should be. I've never heard of a place called the Hellmouth, or a female Slayer." Turning to his pack mates, "Have any of you?" They hadn't.  
  
"Derrick?"  
  
"No, but I'm on it. Sunnydale California you said?" Oz nodded his head yes. "I'll be back". Derrick stood up and took a palm pilot out of his pocket. Keying in a few things, he suddenly vanished. Oz didn't even blink, he'd seen witchcraft before.  
  
Krieg continued, "The vampires we're familiar with are part of a society known as the Camarilla. They are highly organized. They operate under what they call "The Masquerade", which serves to hide them from mortals. The Garou have something similar called the Veil. Both groups know that if humanity discovered the truth about us, there would be an Inquisition unleashed to destroy us. If a vampire breaks the Masquerade, his own people will destroy him. The same is true for us, as you'll learn from the Den Mother."  
  
John picked up the conversation, "Vampires are also heavily into politics, as a way to maintain the Masquerade. They control the police and government in most major cities. Going up against them is dangerous. There are probably a few hundred vampires in the Seattle area right now. We have a sort of a truce between us and them. We stay out of their business, and they stay out of ours."  
  
Now it was Hopes turn. "Fortunately they stick to the cities. The Garou rule beyond the city limits. In fact for the most part all but two Garou tribes, the Glasswalkers and the Bone Gnawers, shun the cities. The only reason we as a pack live here is it's easier to keep track of our enemies from here than from a forest. You see vampires aren't our biggest problem. A huge conglomerate called Pentex is actually a front for what we call the Wyrm, evil incarnate. Pentex is the one that Red Moon pack rages war against, because they are the ones who are ravaging the Wyld."  
  
Oz pondered all of this, feeling that if anymore revelations come his way today, his mind will burst. "I guess that explains the Bone Gnawers I met today when I came up against that vamp."  
  
"Huh? What vamp Oz?" asked Krieg.  
  
Oz explained the encounter he had just prior to meeting the pack.  
  
"It must have been an Anarc or a Caitiff" explained John. "The Bone Gnawers have claimed the area around Yesler Way for decades; they've a Caern there somewhere. The Vamps are supposed to stay away. I'm surprised they didn't tear it apart. That Fetish you were given was probably what saved you.  
  
Oz took the fetish off and looked at it "Speaking of which, the man who gave this to me told me to stay away from the piers at night, that they crawled with leeches, which I suppose are what you guys call vamps. You guys live in spitting distance from the piers, what gives?"  
  
The all chuckled "It was Conn's idea. "Showing the Colors" he calls it" replied Hope.  
  
"Aye laddie. They know we be 'ere, and we make 'em nervous. Keeps 'em honest. This 'ere be neutral ground according to the pact, so they canna say no."  
  
It's at that moment that Derrick reappeared, sort of.  
  
They all heard static coming from the big screen TV in the room. Looking over, an image appeared on the screen, at first loaded with static and scan bars, but it resolved into an image of Derrick, only done up like Max Headroom! "Ok-k-kay kids! Here is the 4-4-4-411 so far."  
  
"Knock out the stutter Derrick," Hope ordered, "you know it drives me nuts."  
  
"P-p-p-arty Pooper." Derrick's screen image changed. His normal self appeared, and he appeared to be sitting in a cave of some sort, in front of a desk with numerous keyboards.  
  
"Sunnydale was founded by the Spanish when they occupied California. The locals soon dubbed it La Boca del Infierno, which for you non-Spanish speakers translates to the Mouth of Hell. This sleepy little town, about an hour north of LA, has the highest per-capita death rate in the entire country! And get this; most of this is attributed by the local authorities to either gang activity spilling over from LA or drugs. The DEA doesn't have anything to even remotely support that."  
  
They all looked at Oz. "Yeah, the Sunnydale PD has their heads in the sand. I think they know the score, but won't admit it. They're just trying to protect themselves. Buffy and the rest of the Scooby gang are the only ones standing between the people and the Undead. The cops are useless."  
  
"Scooby gang?" asked John.  
  
"From what I know of Slayers" Oz continued, "they usually operate independently with only their Watcher to guide them. They usually die young too. When one slayer dies, a new one is chosen. Buffy is different though. She's gathered a few friends to help support her and sometimes even fight alongside her. At first she only had my girlfriend Willow and her childhood friend Xander. Xander dubbed the group the "Scooby Gang". They sometimes also refer to themselves as the Slayerettes. Willow is a Wiccan witch," Derrick perked up at that news "Xander is just a normal kid with more guts then brains as far as I know. Later came Cordelia, but she moved to LA to become an actress. And then me."  
  
"Oh but you have not heard the best part kids" Interrupted Derrick. "It seems that the Technocracy is running a US Government sponsored project out of Sunnydale called "The Initiative". A mixture of Iteration X operatives and Progenitors with some Spec Ops people to back them up. They're into genetic engineering, bionic implants, and Artificial Intelligence. Always trying to improve on Mother Nature. Remember the things that you fought in Iowa last summer?" Nods of accent from all around. "They were Iteration X vat jobs, engineered humans. Loaned out by Iteration X to protect that fertilizer plant. And now they have an operation in close proximity to a gateway of hell which according to Oz is Demons-R-Us. Bad juju." No one was happy with this development.  
  
"We've seen a couple of GI Joe types running around recently, could it be them?"  
  
"Most likely. They are probably using weapons that aren't your standard ballistic weapons too."  
  
"What about the vamps Oz has encountered in Sunnydale?" asked Conn.  
  
"My initial search found nothing, but it was not that sophisticated. I'm going to start digging deeper and gear up to confront some of the more touchy people I know. I may even try to go see Nathan tonight and see what he's willing to tell me."  
  
"Okay Derrick. If you need me at the Caern, you know how to reach me."  
  
"Later!" Derrick's image disappeared.  
  
Hope stood up. "Okay, we've all heard a lot of things we need to ponder. I can see most of you want to hit the road right now and see what the hell is going on in Oz's home town, but we still need to get Oz over to the Caern. I think we need to get him on the right track first, and Derrick needs to do some more digging. It wouldn't hurt for us to do some poking around with the spirits too, see what they have to say about the Hellmouth. I have to go do some shopping for things needed at the Caern. Conn, why don't you fill up the picnic baskets and we'll eat lunch on the way to Bremerton. Anyone want to come shopping with me?" No takers. Shopping didn't seem to be their thing, no more then Oz's.  
  
"Okay, I'll be back in a little while. Oz, we're going to leave your van here. You should pack a bag too. We'll at least be there overnight, but there's no telling how long you'll be out at the Caern. If you have an acoustic, bring it too. The more the merrier!" Hope grabbed a shopping list from the table and left.  
  
Everyone else broke up to go do their own things. Oz went out to the van to find his bags and guitar. After rummaging through his stuff, Oz decided some laundry might be in order. Going back inside, he asked about that and Conn directed him to a corner where he saw some louvered bi-fold doors. Oz started his wash then went out to one of the couches and started to tune his guitar.  
  
About 12:30 Hope returned. They packed up the van, climbed aboard and headed towards the Ferry terminal. Conn and Krieg rode their bikes. "Why are JYD and Derrick staying behind?". Oz asked.  
  
"As for Derrick, he's not a Garou for one thing" Replied John. "For another he's a mage, and normally mages and Garou don't mix. We're still taking crap for hanging around with him. It all stems from some less the scrupulous mages raiding a Caern a while back. Despite the fact that he runs with us, the Caern warders wouldn't let him past the border, they'd try to kill him and us if he tried."  
  
"JYD is not really a part of the pack. He doesn't want to be. He's a Bone Gnawer, and we've sort of hired him to watch the place when we're gone. The Bone Gnawer's have their own Caern over on Yesler Way as we said. It's also called Skid Row and if you ask anyone of them, they will proudly tell you that theirs was the first "Skid Row". It got that name from when the loggers would slide logs from the top of the hill to Elliot Bay down the middle of the road. As far as I know, JYD has never left the city limits since he was born."  
  
They needed to wait in line a few minutes before the ferry started allowing cars onboard. Once parked on the ferry, they grabbed the picnic baskets and headed for the upper deck. Finding a place for the group to sit down, Hope started laying out their lunch.  
  
"Oz it's about a 60 minute trip to the other side. So far you've told us where you came from, but you haven't told us why you left. If it's too personal that's okay, but we are curious."  
  
"Hope, it's his business why he left home, stop being nosey". John chided her.  
  
"Well, you men would never have asked. You never think to ask the important questions!"  
  
While they argued, Oz thought about the subject. What should I tell them? He'd killed another Garou after all. How would they take that? Oz interrupted them, "John its cool, I can talk about it."  
  
"I told you a little about Willow, my girlfriend. There was this instant connection ya know? Hell, I've even taken a bullet for her, but that's another story. Anyway Buffy and the Scooby gang were hunting a werewolf that was prowling around town. They eventually discovered it was me, when I didn't even really know myself. It seems that when I revert back to human form I have no memory of what I did in wolf form."  
  
"But even after making that discovery, Willow was not put off or anything. In fact she arranged for me to be "contained" during the full moon cycle, so I wouldn't hurt anyone. Everything was great, at least as great as it can be on the Hellmouth, when Veruca came along."  
  
Oz heard a groan from his audience. "Typical ain't it," says Krieg. "Leave it to another woman to mess things up!"  
  
Hope slapped him on the arm. "Go on Oz."  
  
"Well, Veruca was the singer of a band playing at the Bronze, a club in Sunnydale. Her voice was great. Anyway we became friends and I think it made Willow jealous. I tried to assure her that nothing was going on between us, and I think she accepted that, but I'm not sure."  
  
"One weekend Willow went to a three-day Wicca gathering that just happened to correspond to my time of the month. She didn't want to go because of that, but I insisted. We had set up a cage in one of the crypts in a graveyard to secure myself during the change. We probably should have gotten a stronger cage because I apparently broke free. When I awoke, I was laying butt naked in the woods covered in scratches, with Veruca wrapped in my arms."  
  
Chuckling, Conn adds, "Bloody hell laddie! Not the best way to reassure yer bird of yer fidelity."  
  
Now red-faced, Oz continued. "I know. At least she didn't find out about that incident. The problem was that I was attracted to Veruca at some primitive level. It wasn't about love, it was lust. Probably because she was a werewolf, I mean Garou, too. Apparently she can remember what happened to her in her wolf form."  
  
John interrupted, "Excuse me Oz, but we can all "remember" what happens when we change. Why you can't I'm not sure, but it can probably be cleared up."  
  
"Veruca told me the same thing and that in time I'd begin to remember. She said I was a werewolf 24x7, not just during the full moon. We'd gone to steal some clothes, and she started talking to me about how she wanted us to be together and for me to forget about Willow and I couldn't do that. I didn't stick around. I tried to find out if we'd hurt anyone that night, but nothing was in the papers. Buffy found me in the crypt trying to repair the cage and told me that one of the professors at school was attacked by two "Wild Dogs."  
  
"I called Veruca and told her to meet me at the crypt. I convinced her to get in the cage with me, but that was a mistake. Even before the change occurred we were all over each other. In the morning, Willow had come back early and went to the crypt to surprise me, only the surprise was on her."  
  
Silence. None of the pack tried to reprimand him for his infidelity. They knew the score. Garou are about instinct, not reason most of the time.  
  
"We had a fight. I kept protesting that it was to keep us both from harming someone, but I couldn't deny my animal attraction to Veruca. Of course she ran out. I didn't try to stop her. She ran to Buffy and told her the whole story. Buffy decided to confront Veruca, and came to me to help track her down. We'd tracked her into the woods only to find a pile of her clothes. Deciding we were led on a false trail, we ran back to the one place we now knew Veruca was; she was going after Willow."  
  
"We ran to Willow's dorm room, but she wasn't there. The only other two places we figured she might be were the library or the lab where she often practiced her craft. The lab was closer so we went there first. We arrived to find Willow sprawled on the floor with Veruca hovering over her. I told her to leave, and she challenged me. The sun went down, and we transformed. Buffy had to tell me the rest in the morning."  
  
"I'd killed Veruca, ripped her throat out. Then I went after Willow. Buffy saved the day by tackling and tranquilizing me. I decided that until I could learn to control myself, I was too much of a danger to Willow and others. I had no idea where to go, I just left. Actually, I think I was guided to you. A falcon of some kind appeared to me twice. First when I made my decision on which way to go and a second time in a dream."  
  
"A Falcon Oz? Can you describe him?" asked John. Oz described what he could remember. "That wasn't a falcon Oz; it was a Hawk, also called a Merlin. That was our packs totem spirit! That's why you found us so fast, she was indeed guiding you".  
  
"And protecting I think. I encountered someone named Sam White Cloud at a truck stop along the way here. He seemed determined to chase me out of town. That night I dreamed about Veruca again, and I ran from her into a clearing in the woods. Sam White Cloud was there and so was a wolf with a red coat, and Merlin. The wolf and White Cloud were determined to kill me, said they could smell the Wyrm on me and the "Black Spiral" bitch, but Merlin interceded."  
  
Now agitated, Krieg asked; "Great Fenris Oz, did you say Black Spiral?"  
  
"Yeah, that's what they said. I assumed they meant Veruca but I didn't know what they were talking about."  
  
"Oz, Black Spiral Dancers are a tribe of Garou who have totally gone over to the Wyrm. It's not surprising you ran into one at the Hellmouth. To them a place like that would be a Holiday Inn. The good news though is you won't have to sweat that you killed her, since you seem to be carrying a little guilt about that. All of the other tribes have a "kill on sight" attitude towards them. You can also bet that she was seducing you to try and get you to walk the Black Spiral, bring you over to her side. I'd also be willing to bet she was using more then just her feminine wiles to do it too. Some kind of gift or fetish. So relax boy, this might not have been as much of your fault as you think it is."  
  
"Aye laddie! If the spirits can verify ye battled a black dog and won, even 'afore going through your Rite o' Passage, ye 'ave gained much honor in the eyes of the Sept!" Conn slapped him on the back, almost knocking Oz over.  
  
Hope steadied Oz; "Yes, and yet another reason to take a trip down to Sunnydale and find out what the hell is going on. Oz, I really don't know how long the Den Mother will want to keep you at the Caern. It would also be better if you went through your Right of Passage before you left. That usually takes time to prepare for. I don't want to short change you, but we'll try to make this as quick as possible, then we'll hop on down to Sunnydale and maybe you can get your Willow back."  
  
Oz brightened. He'd not had such a good feeling in a number of days. Things were beginning to look up!  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
TBC - The Digital Web  
  
How am I doing so far? 


	6. Chapter 5 The Digital Web

Thank you Slytherin Groupie & Darklight for my first reviews! (And a good ones too!) It's encouraging.  
  
The Digital Web  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --  
  
Derrick was stymied. He'd already run down a lot of info related to Oz's story, but he was coming up empty on a few other things. Derrick was a true mage, of the Virtual Adept Tradition, masters of computers and information.  
  
The Pride and Joy of the Virtual Adepts was the Digital Web.  
  
The Digital Web was not the Internet, but the two were connected. It was more of an alternate reality. The Virtual Adepts considered the Digital Web to be Reality 2.0. Here anything was possible within the will and imagination of the Adept. Skill played a large part as well and Derrick was considered one of the Elite. Oh there were others with better reps, but they were glory seekers. A low profile usually meant a longer lifespan.  
  
Someday The Digital Web would replace what the norms considered reality, but it was not ready for Prime Time yet. Sleepers (non-mages) could access the Digital Web at certain points, through the Internet of course, but they had very limited control within it. Most just thought it was a cool chat site or online BBS.  
  
There were two ways for a mage to access the Digital Web, holistically through a Virtual Reality rig like the one in the Packs home, and Total Emersion. The true Elite could "digitize" themselves and become part of the actual data stream, leaving the physical world entirely. That was Nirvana to the VA's, and it's what Derrick was doing now. Of course, this came with its own risks.  
  
Right now that was the state Derrick existed in. He was sitting in a node of the Digital Web of his own construction, one that he formatted to use when he was in research-mode. It was as secure as he could make it, with tons of Intrusion Countermeasures in place. Data Bots constantly scanned the outside of the node to alert him of possible danger. Even the paranoid have enemies. The node resembled a Borg sphere on the outside and the Bat Cave on the inside. Not the one from the TV show, the one from the first movie. Derrick stopped short of actually wearing a costume. He sat in a recliner in front of a console, allowing him to view the dozen or so screens in front of him. Next to the chair was a cooler with nothing but bottles of Jolt Cola.  
  
Using the info he'd found this morning about Sunnydale from publicly accessible data stores, he decided to dig deeper. He used a backdoor into the FBI he'd hacked from those Lone Gunman lameoids, and found the fibbies did have an interest in Sunnydale. A particular office in DC, the X-Files, had all references to Sunnydale that came through FBI systems tagged for their review. He wondered why until he found that the X-Files division investigated the paranormal, which Derrick assumed was probably a Technocracy group on the lookout for Tradition mages and the like in order to hunt them down. No formal investigation yet.  
  
Next he tagged the DEA. They had no running investigations involving Sunnydale. They had sent someone out there once based on the heightened "gang activity" but that person was pulled back after only one day. No explanation.  
  
Then he went to the Sunnydale PD to access their systems. SPD's security was nothing like the FBI or DEA; he blew past it in nanoseconds. He cruised around their data stores, finding nothing of real interest. If there was a vampire infestation, their reports did not indicate it. Of course he really didn't think they would. The Camarilla always made sure nothing like that was recorded anywhere.  
  
It was the morgue records that were significant. It confirmed the death rate statistics he'd found earlier. What was strange was the creativity with which the pathologists sited as the cause of death for some of the cases. Oh there were all the standards; heart attack, drowning, accidental fall etc. But there was also a high incidence of "exsanguinations" with the most improbable causes. "Fell on a piece of glass", "Wild dog bite", "Stabbed self twice with ice pick". Who the hell owned ice picks anymore?  
  
While he was here in the SPD's records, he decided to run down the names Oz gave for this Scooby Gang of his. To broaden the search and cross reference the results, he opened up streams to the California DMV, State Board of Ed and Sunnydale Board of Ed.  
  
First Buffy. Oz had not given her last name, but how many Buffy's could there be? Stupid him. This was California and they apparently had a Buffy on every street. Still, he didn't find any that matched the profile he was scanning for. Maybe Buffy was a nickname. He narrowed his search parameters to filter for females in Sunnydale that graduated with Oz. Then he set another filter to look at a history of violence, crossed against the SPD. Anyone dubbed "The Slayer" would probably have been in trouble with the authorities at one point.  
  
"BINGO" he exclaimed. Buffy Ann Summers, currently a freshman at UC Sunnydale. Several arrests but no convictions. One cop in particular, a Detective Stein seemed to be paying particular attention to her. Seems a boyfriend of Buffy's mom was killed, by Buffy. It was ruled self-defense so she was never charged. Apparently Stein thought different. If anything brutal or unexplained came up, he tried to blame it on Buffy.  
  
Derrick discovered that before Buffy lived in Sunnydale she was in LA, and was suspected of being involved in the burning down of the Hemery High school gymnasium. Stein also believed she was the one responsible for completely destroying Sunnydale High on graduation day. Conn and Krieg are going to love this girl!  
  
Then there's her academic record. Either Buffy was the next best thing to the Apocalypse or her high school principle really hated her! Snyder somebody. She somehow managed to score a 1430 on her SAT's though. Also listed were her "known associates". "What? Was this a school record or criminal record?" Derrick thought to himself. Alexander L. Harris, Willow Rosenberg, Cordelia Chase and Daniel Osborne. Bingo again.  
  
Willow Rosenberg, also freshman at UC Sunnydale. Strange, she was recruited by a lot of heavy hitters, why was she in a Podunk college like U.C. Sunnydale? Probably didn't want to leave her friends and family. Willow's record was clean. Model Student, aptitude for computers, even taught some of the computer classes at Sunnydale High herself. Hum, Oz mentioned she was a Hedge Mage, a Wiccan, now a computer geek too? Curiouser and curiouser.  
  
Alexander Harris. The only police reports involved domestic disputes between his parents, who've both been through a few 12-step programs apparently. School record reflected a typical slacker mentality. No sports except for a brief stint on the Swim Team. Apparently did not go on to college. Derrick dipped into the IRS and found W2s showing he worked for a construction company.  
  
Cordelia Chase. Father was a big player in the financial world, but got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Got nabbed for Tax evasion and lost it all. After graduation it seems she moved to LA, probably to become an actress like Oz said. Her and every other pretty face in LA. W2 says she's employed by Angle Investigations. Have to run them down too.  
  
Then there was Oz. Again, no police record, he would probably be an average student, if he'd actually attended school. Had to repeat his senior year in order to graduate. Started at UC Sunnydale, but I guess will be listed as dropped soon, depending on how things work out.  
  
Now for the teachers Oz mentioned. Jenny Calendar as he'd already found is the computer teacher. Clean record, lots of recommendations from other schools. No red flags there. Oops, wait, big flag, as in Death Certificate. No details. Guess that's why Willow took a stab at teaching, filling in for Ms. Calendar.  
  
Giles must be Rupert Giles, the librarian at the former Sunnydale High. Degree in History from Oxford. What's this? A list of books requisitioned by him for the library; a number of which are paranormal in context. Oz did say he was Buffy's guide and trainer. Maybe this was part of that.  
  
He's put flags on all of them. If anything came on them came though his constantly running searches, he'd know. It was while he was backing out of Sunnydale PD's systems that he noticed it. Someone else had been there before, another hacker. They'd left a few hooks in the system too, in order to get back in easier when they wanted.  
  
Whoever it is was good, but not Elite. Now that he had a signature, Derrick dug further. This person covered their tracks well, things were bounced all around the globe. But Derrick was able to trace some of the incursions back to the Sunnydale High School library. Hello Scooby gang! Or should he say "Hello Willow".  
  
Knowing that the Sunnydale High School Library was no more, Derrick rooted around again and found some recent frames had been routed to both a computer in a private residence and to the Computer Lab at UC Sunnydale. The private residence turned out to belong to Rupert Giles. The one real slipup she'd made was he managed to uncover her handle; NetGrl. "That sounds familiar." He said out loud to himself. Yet another tidbit to cross reference against existing files.  
  
That only took seconds. The info was in one of the Data stores in the Omaha Chantry. Another VA had recently noticed NetGrl's Icon on the Web was expanding, becoming more then 2 dimensional. A sure sign that the sleeper was about to Awaken. Derrick hooked in yet another flag to alert him to when she was online again.  
  
Anyway, knowing who this person was and what she was up to, Derrick decided to give her a hand. He went back in and cleaned up after her a little bit. He left her pipelines and back entrances intact, but firmed them up a little. Only one of the Elite, one that was purposely looking for them and expending a lot of effort to do it, would be able to find them.  
  
On to just what a "Vampire Slayer" was. Derrick did know there were hunter organizations that went after the Camarilla vamps, but they were usually short lived. Oz seemed to indicate "The Slayer" in some incarnation had been around for a while. His search routines only yielded sparse information. He found the line Oz spouted "The only girl in all the world" blah blah blah. referenced in a 16th century manuscript on demonology.  
  
It mentioned the Slayer and her efforts to destroy the Vampire Demons, supported only by her Watcher, capital "W". But who supported him? Another search yielded a "Council of Watchers" located in London, but Derrick could not find anything online to indicate what they watched. Well, what about offline? They sounded like a bunch of stuffy Englishmen to him, probably didn't know squat about how to protect a computer. Using the street address he found for the Council of Watchers, Derrick hacked into all the known ISP's in the London area to see if they had an account. He already had entrance points in all of the major ISPs' worldwide so it was easy.  
  
He found they had a dial-up account with a mid-sized London company. They were offline at the moment so he couldn't get in that way. He shifted his focus to the London power grid. As long as a computer was plugged in and powered on, it was connected to a network of sorts. This network didn't normally carry data, just electrons. But what was electronic data but a series of well organized electrons?  
  
Derrick sent his intrusion code in through the power grid into the Watchers residence. It would locate any PC's that were there and powered on. He quickly found a bunch. One was drawing more power then the others, probably a server. Come to poppa baby! This was a server alright, probably their only one judging by the services it supported. It also carried TONS of data. "Paydirt!" He shouted with glee.  
  
Going through this interface would be too slow, so it was time for some real magic.  
  
Derrick was a Master of Correspondence, as in the correspondence of two points in space between each other. As a Master of this art he could Teleport himself or others, and even open dimensional gates to allow travel to-and-from places. Distance to him is not an obstacle. Of course in order to do this right, he'd have to be subtle. First, through his power grid connection he ran a scan to determine the exact location of the Watcher's server. He also scanned for a human presence and found none. Derrick then opened a small Gate to the back of the server. Looking through he examined the ports and cables that were there. Seeing an open SCSI port, Derrick attached a small device to the port. Anyone looking at it would think it was a SCSI terminator. What it did though was create a wireless link between that port and a ghost port located in Derrick's construct.  
  
With that complete, Derrick closed the Gate. Attaching a cable to his ghost port, he began downloading every bit of data on the Watcher's machine to a far larger one of his own. When complete, he'd have an exact copy of the Watcher's server. If he left the ghost port in place, the Watcher's server would constantly replicate to his, keeping them both synchronized. Even at this speed, it will still take awhile to complete the initial copy.  
  
He popped open another bottle of Jolt and loaded up his favorite First Person Shooter game. Time to F with a few newbie's.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
TBC 


	7. Chapter 6 The Caern

The Caern  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
After landing on the island they made their way to Gazzam Lake Park. Technically it was open to the public, but there was limited access. The lake of course was a prime attraction for hikers and fisherman. But anyone who tried to venture too deep into the forest soon found themselves returning from whence they came. Strong magics protected the Caern. Any who actually made it past those would face the Caern's warders. The warders were all Park Rangers and would turn away people who got too close. Or kill them if need be, anything to protect the Caern.  
  
They parked the bikes and the van at a ranger station and greeted the rangers within. Everyone seemed to know each other. They explained Oz was a cub they were taking in to see the den mother. With knowing smiles they bid everyone good hunting and waived goodbye.  
  
"We hoof it from here Oz" said Hope. "No weaver craft, stuff made by man, is allowed into the Caern. That means no cars, trucks or motor bikes. No TV's, no radios. Heck, if you were wearing synthetic clothing you might find it ripped from you and burned. One ragabash tried to ban zippers, but we drew the line there."  
  
They'd walked about 45 minutes and it was getting towards dark. At that point Oz felt the urge to turn around. He had urgent business elsewhere. He left the stove on. Grandma needed her medicine. Oz turned around and headed back the way he came. Krieg was expecting this and grabbed him. "Relax kid, that's the ward we told you about. Turn around and head into it. It won't last long. Once you're through it the first time, it won't affect you again."  
  
Oz thought he was nuts, but did what he asked. He forced himself forward for every foot of one hundred, and then it stopped. "Cool" thought Oz.  
  
They'd gotten perhaps another hundred feet when another Park Ranger stepped out into the trail. "Greetings Red Moon Pack!"  
  
"Greetings Whiteclaw" responded Conn.  
  
"Jeanette told me to expect you. Is this your lost cub?" indicating Oz. Whiteclaw gave Oz the once over as if deciding his threat level. He either decided Oz was not a threat, or that he could take him. The latter Oz thought. Extending he hand he said "Nice to meet you Oz, I'm Jeremy.  
  
Oz shook his hand, "Nice to meet you too."  
  
Looking around at the rest of the pack Jeremy told them "I'll see you all again later tonight" and he stood aside so they could pass.  
  
After another 15 minute walk they came to an open glen. It was surrounded by tall trees; probably what was called Old Growth thought Oz. At its edges were various types of lodgings. A log cabin or two, some things that Oz thought were called Lean-tos and a few tents. In the center was a fire pit, with a low fire burning. Around it sat several people, and a few wolves. Conn led the group up to the fire.  
  
"Wyrm Harrower, this is the Lost Cub Merlin sent us to find, his name is Daniel Osborne. Oz, this is Ed Goodwater, also known as Wyrm Harrower. He is the leader of our Sept."  
  
Worm Harrower stood and walked over to Oz, extending his hand, which Oz took in a firm grip. "Greetings Daniel, and welcome to our caern. Merlin informed the Sept's totem of your coming and seemed to mark some importance to it. We shall see. Tonight will be for introductions and we will hear your tale. For now, sit and refresh yourself."  
  
Food was brought out, some of which was packed in by Red Moon. Conn fetched up an empty wooden barrel and went over to a spring to fill it. There were no tables or chairs; everyone sat around the fire. As more came in, Oz was introduced to them.  
  
He met Jeanette the Den Mother, and found that her Garou name was simply "Grandmother". She was an older woman, perhaps in her late 50's, dressed like the stereotypical earth mother.  
  
Conn returned with the barrel. He reached into a pouch at his belt and produced some dried herbs and leaves. Crushing them into the barrel, he held his hands over the top and murmured some words, more like growls, that Oz could not understand. When he was done, Conn produced a wooden dipper and began filling cups for people. Oddly enough the dipper was shaped like a chicken! Someone passed Oz a cup, and nearly choked when he found it wasn't water, but beer!  
  
After everyone had eaten, Wyrm Harrower stood. "Tonight we welcome a lost cub into our dens. He knows little of our ways, but that will soon change. Will the Rite Master please summon the spirits so that they might observe."  
  
An elder man Oz had not met stood and faced the fire. He began a ritual facing the fire, and then turning outwards from it, circling as he went. Again the words were not in English, but in a strange growl. Oz thought he was actually catching a word to two. When he had made one complete pass around the fire, Oz could feel he was being watched. Looking around Oz could see the glowing shapes of various types of animals looking on, Wolf, Deer, Cougar, Bear and of course Merlin. "So these were spirits" he thought to himself.  
  
The Rite master addressed the gathered Garou. "So that the cub knows in whose presence he sits, I call on all of you to recite your lineage and your deeds. We shall go from youngest to eldest".  
  
A young girl stood and began the introductions. Her name was Wendy, and she'd only undergone her first "change" a few months ago. She was from the Children of Gaia tribe, and a philodox. Her accomplishments were small, only having just gone through her Rite of Passage, which involved planting trees somewhere.  
  
And it went on. There were only about 20 Garou present, but with each the telling got longer. Apparently some attempted to brag a little, and were playfully laughed at and razzed. When it became the turn of his new-found friends, their list of accomplishments were many, especially Conn and Krieg. It seemed to Oz that the Red Moon pack was like the foreign legion of Garou. They traveled a lot compared to the other Garou present; and killed things when they got there.  
  
At the end, the Rite Master stood again. "Daniel Osborne, you have heard the histories of those present. Now it is time for you to recite yours." Damn, Oz knew this was coming but still dreaded it. It occurred to him then that he's done more speaking in the last few days then he's done almost his entire life!  
  
Standing, Oz began from when he was born in Sunnydale. He told of meeting Willow and the Scooby gang and his discovery of the Hellmouth. He spoke of the demons that he's fought with Buffy and the gang, of the evils they faced. His audience was rapt. He spoke then of his change, and his apparent problems with it. He spoke of Veruca and his betrayal of Willow and the circumstances that made him leave Sunnydale. He spoke finally of his journey north, his meeting with Sam White Cloud and Finder, and eventually meeting the Red Moon pack.  
  
As he concluded, all were silent. He could see some of the Garou before him looking off as if in a trance, perhaps communing with their spirit guides.  
  
The Rite Master stood again. "Well Spoken Daniel of Sunnydale. The spirits confirm the veracity of your tale. We are pleased to have you amongst us." That's when all hell broke loose. Confusion about a human "Slayer", calls for war on the denizens of the Hellmouth. The need to hunt down an apparent Black Spiral pit and wipe it out.  
  
"SILENCE" called the Sept leader. "All of this troubles me as well. But we will not go running off into the unknown. Much must be learned, but let us see to this cub first. Daniel, in the Garou society, all are considered "cubs" until they pass a Rite of Passage. This rite usually involves a test of some kind. The type of test usually depends on the tribe the cub belongs to. It could be a test of wisdom, a test of luck or skill, most often though it is a test of combat."  
  
"After hearing your tale I think all of us here would agree that you've already undergone such a rite. Killing a Black Spiral Dancer without benefit of a gift or fetish would more then fulfill any tribe's Rite. You've also shown great wisdom in leaving when you did to seek help. Does anyone deny this?"  
  
Growls of acceptance and assent, but one who had introduced himself as "Killer of Banes" exclaimed "The forms must still be met Wyrm Harrower!"  
  
"And so they should Killer of Banes. I therefore propose the following. There is much Oz needs to learn, but what concerns me most are the things that Oz does not even know about himself; his tribe, his ancestors, his kinfolk. Then there is the problem of his lack of control over his transformation. What I propose is that Oz spends the next two days with Grandmother learning about the Garou history and the Litany. At the end of those two days he will be sent on a Quest in the spirit world, to commune with his ancestors and learn the answers to his past. Does anyone doubt this wisdom?"  
  
More agreement. Even Killer of Banes seemed satisfied.  
  
"In the mean time we ourselves will dig into the mystery of this Hellmouth and the Slayer. I'm sure that Red Moon's pet human is already gathering his precious data on the subject." Conn stood as if he was about to let into the Sept leader. "Stick a cork in it He who Towers Over the Wyrm, I know he's provided us with valuable information. Excuse me if I don't like that it all comes from Weaver tainted sources."  
  
The rest of the night was spent around the fire, finishing off the barrel of beer Conn provided. At some point he took a smaller bucket of water and made Whisky, which Oz stayed away from.  
  
After the beer and whisky were gone, some unspoken signal said "the party's over" and everyone sought their lodging. Hope led Oz over to Red Moon's "Den". It was a circular tent-like structure that Hope said was a Yurt. It had short walls and a conical roof with a hole in the middle from which smoke was coming out. Its advantage she explained was that it was portable. They could break it down and take it with them when they traveled.  
  
Next to it was a Lean-to, built half into the side of a small hill. Apparently the yurt was too small for Conn, so this is where he slept. Oz looked around for Conn and noticed he was still out at the fire pit, curled up in a really big ball of wolf fur, his nose tucked into his tail.  
  
Inside the yurt it looked comfortable. Sleeping pallets made of furs surrounded the edges, while a low fire burned in the middle. Smoke exited through a hole in the roof as Oz already noted. The walls were made from strips of wood arranged in a lattice configuration, and the roof was made of sturdier slats of wood.  
  
Hope directed Oz to a pallet. He took his shoes off and began to get under the covers. Hope called to him, "Oz, I don't know if you've been camping before," He shook his head no. "It's best if you don't sleep completely clothed. It's harder to regulate your temp that way. A lot of us just change into our wolf forms and sleep that way. Others get down to their skivvies. If you do that, it's best to put your clothes somewhere in your bed with you, that way they're warm in the morning when you get up."  
  
With that she stripped down to her bra and panties. Oz had to wrench his gaze away when she started taking those off too! Embarrassed, he took his pants off and climbed in. John apparently chose to change forms and Krieg did the same as Oz.  
  
----------------------------------------------------------  
  
TBC 


	8. Chapter 7 Where Everypne Doesn't Know Y...

Where Everybody Doesn't Know Your Name  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------  
  
An internal buzzer sounded interrupting his game. Derrick blew away one more player before exiting. It really wasn't fair, but he enjoyed it anyway. He'd noted that his dump of the Watcher's server was complete and he began a cursory examination of the files. Some of it was old text books that had been scanned. Demonology, witch craft, standard Euthanatos and hedge-mage type stuff.  
  
Amongst the take were numerous files under the heading "Watcher Diaries". These were the journals of watchers that were assigned to slayers. Some of these went back centuries! Reading a few he was amazed at some of the things these girls could do. But in all of them, there was the watcher and his slayer. No one else. In rare occasions the watcher was female, but that seemed the only variation. All of them died young, none made it to 30, most never past 18.  
  
He searched for and found the diaries of Rupert Giles. As he read them he noticed that Buffy seemed to be fighting a running battle. It didn't seem like a night went by without her having to face something. Then he noticed a reference to something called "The Cruciamentum". Cross referencing it with the other files he captured he discovered that it's a ritual the Slayer is put through on her 18th birthday. Reading the details of it, Derrick's only conclusion was "Those Bastards!"  
  
"This girl proves herself almost every day and they have the balls to do that to her!" he said aloud. He also discovered that Giles got fired for trying to stop it. Points for him. As for the rest of these "watchers", they don't deserve Buffy or any of the slayers before her as far a he was concerned. The more he read the more he realized that the slayers who excelled over the years did so in spite of the Watchers, not because of them. Apparently it was standard operating procedure that if a Slayer was injured and her recovery was expected to take a while, it was her Watcher's duty to flatline her so another slayer could be called. Derrick decided he'd need to change that and a few other things too.  
  
Along with all of this came a bunch of information about the "Demon Vampires". A lot of it was straight Hollywood; stakes, crosses, garlic, holy water. Stuff that would make the vamps he knew laugh in your face. No mention of the Camarilla.  
  
That confused him. "How could an organization deal with vampires for centuries and not know about the Camarilla?" he asked himself. "Answer: The Watchers are being kept in the dark on purpose or they are in league with them and are suppressing the info within their own ranks."  
  
"How do I find out?" asking himself yet another question. He had a few contacts in the vamp world, Nosferatu who had as big a Jones for information as he did. The big difference was that while Derrick thought information should be free, the Nosferatu held their info close, and charged a lot for it. And not always in money. And asking the wrong questions of them is the right way to a short life.  
  
The Nosferatu he knew only as Nathan was Derrick's Camarilla contact in Seattle. He lived in the Seattle Underground somewhere, the "old" part of town which got buried by progress. Derrick could have located his lair, but didn't want to sour the relationship. Normally Nathan was a straight shooter, but Derrick had never gone to him for info on a Camarilla-based subject. How would he react?  
  
He e-mailed one of Nathan's drop boxes and asked for a meet. The reply came quickly. TSD, 10PM PST. TSD is an acronym for "The Spy's Demise" a "bar" located in the Digital Web. It was also considered neutral ground. An Iteration X operative could sit down and have a nice conversation with a VA about the weather, no problem. Yeah right, not exactly how it worked, but at least there was no fighting. Fighting was verboten. Some serious shit protected the place and the bouncers would put a hurt on you if you violated the peace.  
  
There were many theories about its existence. Some said it was a way for the Technocracy to keep tabs on the Tradition mages. Others thought that it was a trap set by the Nephandi mages. Now those people scared him. The Nephandi hoped to drive the world into utter oblivion. Their vision is one of Descension; a universe reduced to bubbling primordial ooze, devoid of hope, life or light. Derrick shivered just thinking about it when he allowed himself to dwell on the subject. Most just thought The Spy's Demise was just a really cool place to hang. The Tass was free at least.  
  
Checking the time, he had half an hour. He set up some routines that would index the data he'd gathered so far, making it easier to search. A big believer in fault tolerance, Derrick initiated a backup of all his data stores to several locations, both in the Digital Web, and on the other side. This should all take a few hours. Leaving his secure node, Derrick made his way to The Spy's Demise.  
  
The club was built on or near a source of Quintessence, or "Tass". Tass is a function of life energy. Think of Obi-Wan's whole "force" speech and you've got Tass. Mages use the stuff in their magics. It's created naturally and can be gathered from various sources, most of which are heavily guarded. The Garou call it Gnosis and usually build their Caerns around a source. At the Spy's Demise they specialized in all types of concoctions made with it. The story goes that one laimoid actually made a run for TSD source of Tass and got fried in nanoseconds.  
  
The club itself was huge; some say it has no actual boundaries. There is a core section that exists around the main bar, but most of it did not stay the same for long, it was constantly evolving. Rooms appear and then vanish a few days later. Corridors shifted, entrances changed. There were places to play games, chat rooms where you could interface with sleepers. Some sleeper icons actually made it beyond those boundaries, usually indicating that the sleeper was near their awakening.  
  
The Cult of Ecstasy mages maintained a room that was a 24x7 orgy. Of course telling just who your partner or partners were was almost impossible; male, female, neither. That gave Derrick the wiggens so he stayed away from that construct.  
  
He ordered a "Jumpstart" which was Rum and Jolt cola, with a touch of Tass thrown in for good measure. Sitting down in a booth, he didn't wait long. Nathan showed up with a glass of something deep red. Derrick didn't need to ask. The Icon Nathan used to represent himself was non-descript. Literally. Pale robes and a face that was completely smooth, almost plastic. Same with the hair. Derrick had never seen Nathan's real face, but he knew that it was hideous by human standards. Nathan was from the Nosferatu Vampire clan. All Nosferatu resembled the guy from that silent movie of the same name. The story goes that he actually WAS a nosferatu, not an actor in makeup.  
  
Nathan opened the conversation. "Good evening Derrick. What can I help you with?"  
  
"Right to business huh?"  
  
"I feel it's best that way. That way we don't have to pretend we are actually interested in each other's company."  
  
"Right. Of course you know I've been hanging with a pack of werewolves lately..."  
  
"Decidedly unwise Derrick. They are a dangerous group of beings, and have no love for your kind."  
  
"I know, but we're cool for now. Anyway, I recently heard tell of a group of werewolves who fought with some vampires that turned to dust when staked. What can you tell me about them?"  
  
Nathan paused in thought. "What should I tell him? I could dissemble, but he'd notice that. If I tell him nothing he'll just dig more. The truth? How dangerous would it be for him to know? Why did he want it? The first people he'd tell would be his Garou friends. Wait, was that a bad thing? They had to maintain their "Veil" just like we maintained the Masquerade. The soulless ones have been a danger to the Masquerade for years. Having Garou destroy them would only be helping us. What irony was that!"  
  
"I believe I have the information you are looking for, but it will cost you of course." Have to keep up appearances after all.  
  
They haggled over a price. Thankfully Nathan only wanted money this time, not blood. Derrick brought up a holo-screen on the table and transferred the money in seconds.  
  
"The Vampire breed you are referring to are called the "Soulless Ones" or "Demonic Ones" by the Camarilla. They are not true Cainites, but rather a corruption thought to have been created by the Settites long ago. We consider them lower then Caitiff. They have no organization other then the Sire/Childe relationship. Every once in a while a more powerful one will rise and declare himself a "Master". A particularly bad one caused all kinds of havoc in the 18th century, Angelus I believe his name was. It took a while, but he was dealt with."  
  
"A Kill on Sight order has existed on their heads for a long time. Should your "friends" encounter them, there will be no repercussion from the Camarilla. Just make sure they are not true Cainites first, or you WILL violate the truce."  
  
Damn. Derrick thought. "He just gave us a hunting license." "Okay, what's the best way to make sure?"  
  
"They are susceptible to the Hollywood version of a vampire's weaknesses, which we believe is actually where that all comes from. Holy Water would probably be the easiest. If they burn, kill them. Anything else you wish to discuss?"  
  
"No thank you. This clears a few things up. Thanks."  
  
Nathan just nodded his head, got up and left.  
  
Derrick sat and pondered what info he had so far. Sunnydale seemed like Grand Central Station for Bad Things. Which made him wonder why he'd not heard of it before. Hell, why didn't the Inquirer and the Globe have branch offices there?  
  
Time to get a look at the place. Oh not physically of course, he'd wait for his muscle to get back from romping in the woods. Looking at his watch, he realized he's been up for almost 48 hours. Not his record, but no reason to stretch it now. Finding the nearest exit, he started heading towards the Bat Cave.  
  
It was then that he was attacked.  
  
Perhaps it was lack of sleep, or his preoccupation with Sunnydale, but a pair of Iteration X Hit Marks got the jump on him. Think "Terminator" and you've got a Hit Mark, only not so tough, depending on the model. They came out weapons blazing from a junk node Derrick had just passed. The only thing that saved him was the subroutine he had running constantly, which "jumped" him 10 feet away in the safest direction if anyone got a target lock on him.  
  
Only momentarily confused, the hit marks reacquired Derrick instantly, but not before he could toss a feedback loop in their direction. This held their interest long enough for him to pull his next trick. Derrick has spent an entire month creating a resonance point. This allowed him to send any object or objects directly to this point without fail regardless of the distance. Of course this point happened to be at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the deepest point on the "surface" of the Earth, seven miles underwater. It tended to be Vulgar, but it was worth the Paradox hit. Using his palmtop he activated the rote, which needed a few seconds to get a lock on its targets. The feedback loop provided those seconds, and then POP, they were gone.  
  
Time to get the hell out of Dodge. In case he was being followed, he decided not to use his regular exit point; he'd use the one for the Chantry in Omaha. The next question being was this random or was he targeted? It was not unheard of for the Xer's to dump Hit Marks in the Web to try and catch a Tradition mage unawares. But given his latest activities why take the chance. Of course if they were targeting him, Derrick was insulted that they only sent two Hit Marks.  
  
He reached the exit point and dumped out. To the surprised faces at the Chantry, Derrick's only response was "Who's got the caffeine!"  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
TBC 


	9. Chapter 8 Garou 101

Garou 101 

---------------------------------------------------------

Oz awoke at what he assumed was right after dawn, with just a touch of a hangover. It was cold being the middle of November. He was thankful for Hope's suggestion of keeping his cloths under his covers. He did his best to get dressed while still underneath. Remembering that a lot of people went barefoot last night, he decided to forgo his socks and shoes despite the cold.

Leaving the yurt he could see a low mist drifting through the glade. Thankfully it was not raining. He noticed that there was a cook pot over the fire pit, being tended by Wendy, the girl who introduced herself first last night.

"Good morning Oz!" She said cheerfully.

"_Oh, a morning person, lovely"_ Oz said to himself. "Hey."

"There's oatmeal in the pot. Over on the table are butter and honey and some spring water. Help yourself."

Others were about as well. John and Hope emerged from the yurt. Oz could see some Garou in wolf form running about. One had a rabbit in his jaws, apparently wanting something besides oatmeal for breakfast.

"Good morning Oz."

Oz turned and saw Grandmother approaching him, a smile on her face."

"Good morning." He replied.

"I hope you had a good night's sleep. Today we shall begin your instruction. It promises to be a nice day weather wise, so we might as well do this outdoors. I've a couple of chairs outside my cabin," She pointed Oz to where they were. "We'll perhaps be more comfortable in them then on the ground. When you've finished your breakfast, go and bring them by the fire if you would, and then we shall begin." She then went to help herself to breakfast.

Nodding to her, Oz finished the last of his bowl and retrieved the chairs. They were made of wood, curved X's, with leather backs and seats, and pillows for cushions. Oz placed them on the upwind side of the fire pit.

Grandmother sat down and indicated Oz should do the same.

"The Garou society is a very formal one. Social interaction within our society relies on a complex system of rank and hierarchy.  Every individual Garou is evaluated by where she stands in an intricate pecking order of Pack, Sept and Tribe.  Since every Garou knows the intricacies of hierarchy, any violation of this order is obvious to all.  If a Garou acts out of his station without good reason, he or she is punished appropriately."

"The actual punishment varies by Sept and tribe, but it can range from a harsh beating to a short period of lowered status.  In most cases, it is resolved in challenges.  If the accused feels she acted with good reason, she must convince the other of her Sept.  Most often the resolution is handled through the challenge or the Council's interaction."

"Challenges are also used to reach a higher station, by making a formal challenge to the one who holds the station you seek.  They can also be used to resolve minor crimes and discrepancies that don't violate Garou law.  The conflicting parties engage in a challenge, with the defender choosing the specific method of contest.  For those situations in which it is unclear which Garou is the wronged one, the Council of Elders declares the type of challenge.  The challenge itself is considered an appropriate punishment."

"We have numerous rites and laws which you need to be familiar with. The most important of those is The Litany."

"The Litany is the core of Garou law. There are 13 tenets, from which grow all of the Garou tradition and ceremony. While the laws themselves are relatively simple, the applications become very complex. For each tenet there are hundreds of stories, histories and parables to help with interpretation and application. These combined stories form the Silver Record, the living history and mythology of the Garou Nation."

Garou Shall not Mate With Garou Combat the Wyrm Wherever It Dwells and Whenever It Breeds Respect the Territory of Another Accept an Honorable Surrender Submission to Those of Higher Station The First Share of the Kill for the Greatest in Station Ye Shall Not Eat the Flesh of Humans Respect for All Those Beneath Ye The Veil Shall Not Be Lifted Do Not Suffer Thy People to Tend Thy Sickness The Leader may Be Challenged at Any Time During Peace The Leader may Not Be Challenged During Wartime Ye Shall Take No Action That Causes a Caern to Be Violated 

"Hopefully most of these are self explanatory. There are two however, which probably are not. The first is "Garou shall not Mate with Garou." This is due to Garou genetics. Our gene pool is surprisingly shallow. When two Garou mate, the result is almost always what we call a Metis or mule. A mutation. It usually has one or more deformities, making it difficult to survive in our world. Some tribes kill them at birth to spare them."

"To increase our numbers, Garou mate with either a human or a wolf. The birth rate from such unions is usually only 1 or 2 out of 10, hence the few numbers of Garou in the world. Garou whose mothers are human are considered Homids, and their human form is most natural to them. Garou whose mothers are wolves are considered Lupus and so it follows that their wolf form is most natural to them."

"When a particular clan of humans or wolves appears to breed Garou more successfully, the Garou tribe usually tries to keep them close, even make themselves known to them. These we consider Kinfolk. It is one of a Garou's duties to protect their kinfolk. Sometimes, because of the nature of human and animal migration throughout the world, kinfolk can become lost to us. We suspect that your family may be one such lost group. Part of your Rite of Passage will be to discover if this is true."

"The second thing I must further explain is "The Veil". The Veil is what protects us from Humans. If the truth about us were known to the general human populous, an inquisition would be launched to hunt us down and destroy us. A single Garou could handle 10 or even 20 humans easily. But there are hundreds of thousands of them to our one. And they would not be armed with Tooth and Claw. They'd have guns and other such weaver tools. We wouldn't stand a chance. Yet, we are charged with protecting them from the Wyrm! Some Garou still have trouble reconciling that."

"Beyond that there are rites and gifts that you will learn as time progresses. Some of these are simple blessings, calling upon the spirits. Others are tools we use to hunt down and destroy our enemy, the Wyrm."

"Gaia, our Mother, was whole once. The forces of Creation; known as the Wyld, Organization; known as the Weaver and Destruction; known as the Wyrm were in dynamic balance. Each striving for ascendance but unified in a perfect, undivided whole. It is said that Weaver mis-set her webs, trying to control the Wyld and instead ensnaring the Wyrm, causing the balance to be broken. Gaia then created the werewolves - Garou - and charged us with defending her from a Weaver without control and a Wyrm gone mad."

"The Garou are creatures of the Wyld. The Wyld represents nature, all things that come from Gaia, life itself. The Wyld is also chaotic, always changing, evolving."

"The Weaver represents Man's influence on the Wyld, attempting to make order out of Chaos. Computers, science, logic, and mathematics are examples of the Weaver's influence on the material plane. The Industrial Revolution almost destroyed Gaia, but we helped her survive."

"The Wyrm represents entropy, or decay. These are normal processes of life. Things are born, they live and they die. But somewhere along the way, this natural process became corrupted. It seeks to accelerate the process of decay and to bring all into its realm. Toxic wastes, pollution, all of these are manifestations of the Wyrm. This is what the Garou were created to fight."

"The Wyrm has many faces, but its biggest incarnation is the Pentex Corporation. A holding company for many other large organizations, it seeks to corrupt the Wyld in any way it can. It has already done so with the Weaver. The Garou consider most products of the Weaver to be Wyrm-tainted. But one cannot function in this world without using at least some part of the Weaver, so we consider it a necessary evil."

"I feel safe in saying that your Hellmouth also has some relation to the Wyrm. The presence of a Black Spiral Dancer there is certainly a sign that I'm correct."

Grandmother continued for a while, talking about other rites and ceremonies the Garou hold, until she announced it was time to break for lunch. Oz was fascinated. He'd listened to her for hours and did not even notice the passage of time. 

Lunch was a beef stew, prepared by Conn himself. He kept telling people he didn't trust anyone else to make it right. Stew was probably the wrong term though. Stew was usually vegetables with some meat. This was meat with some vegetables. Oz was surprised to learn it was not beef; it was venison with some lamb thrown in. He'd never had either before. It was delicious. 

After lunch, Grandmother decided they'd continue the lesson while taking a hike around the Caern. After sitting all morning she wanted to stretch her legs. She told Oz to put on his shoes. "A little at a time dear, you can't "go native" overnight, those city bred feet of yours won't take it."

Oz had a question when they started out. "Grandmother, what about silver?"

She smiled and replied "Ah, one of the supernatural threats to Garou is the moon-metal, silver. In small quantities, it will cause a Garou to itch. Long-term exposure to large quantities of silver may cause madness, though that is debated amongst the Theurges. However, silver-coated weapons generally don't cause any more harm than a non-coated weapon. Some specialized preparation is necessary, and those skills are only known to a few Theurges. The work is dangerous, for a misstep could cause grave injuries."

"In addition, even though silver weapons can be used to great effect against Black Spiral Dancers, they can just as easily be used against other Garou - in some septs, possession of a silver weapon is even considered to be a violation of the Litany."

"Many we've done battle with have tried shotgun shells filled with silver dimes, which won't work past the physical damage and neither will a squirt gun filled with silver nitrate. I've heard someone tried that on Conn once and he almost laughed to death as he bashed the creature's skull in. Silver tableware won't do much good either. If you want a silver weapon, you need to take a properly made one away from someone who has it or talk to a Garou silversmith to see if she'll make you one."

"Another thing you'll discover during your Right of Passage is what Auspice you were born under. As you now well by now, the Garou have a strong connection to Luna, the Moon Spirit."

Oz groaned and nodded.

"You'll learn how to overcome that particular problem Oz, never fear. The Four Winds gifted the Garou with the power to change forms, to channel their passion and power, and to walk amongst the spirits. Luna, Gaia's sister, gifted them with her knowledge, both a strength and a curse as the moon waxes and wanes. Thus empowered, the Garou have done their duty ever since. What I was referring to was what phase of the moon you were born under. This will generally define your roll or position in Garou society, called your Auspice."

"Those born under the new moon are known the Tricksters or Ragabash. Much like the court jesters of Medieval Europe, the Ragabash brings wisdom and enlightenment through his tricks and pranks. He is tolerated, if not understood and looked at as a necessary nuisance and given pretty much free reign - but of course while still obeying the Litany."

"A Theurge or Seer is born under the Crescent Moon. No other Garou is so attuned to the Umbra or spirit world. By the sword like sliver of Luna's light, Theurges peer into the darkness of inner and outer mystery, much like Shamans of ancient cultures they are touched, aloof and mysterious. He often keeps to himself, talking to the spirits - he is the diviner, the planner, the thinker and the visionary. They guide the tribe through the mysteries that present themselves."

A Philodox is the Keeper of the Ways and is born under the half moon. As the half moon is the straddled split between light and dark, the Philodox straddles the line drawn between wolf and man. He is a mediator, and his honor is beyond question. Philodoxs often make good Sept leaders as befits their wisdom.

"A Galliard or Moon Dancer is born under the Gibbous Moon. They act as the lore keepers, the entertainers, the artists and the singers of old tales and new ways. Moon Dancers are the soul of the pack; they raise the other's spirits and remind them of what they are fighting for. They are fueled with the blazing passion of Luna."

"Cool" he replied. Oz hoped it turned out he was a Galliard. He often thought of himself as an artist more then a musician. It would be cool to know it was his destiny of sorts.

"Finally Oz, we have the Ahroun or warrior. Born under the full moon, The Ahroun is the vessel of Luna's rage, the talons of Gaia's fury. He is the slayer, the mad man-wolf, Rage incarnate, blood is his wine and war is his pleasure. Should he live long enough, wisdom will guide the Ahroun's hand, and nothing is more dangerous than an elder Ahroun. He is the hero of the Garou, the warrior of legend. Among all tribes, even the moderately level-headed ones, he is known for his bad temper. He does not fear death, but embraces it as a warrior's due."

"Your new friends Conn and Krieg are such. You've not seen them in action yet, but it is both wonderful and terrible to behold. Krieg is cold, precise. His anger fuels his rage and no foe escapes him. Conn on the other hand fights with reckless abandon, singing as he kills! His passion fills him. He's been known to jump in pits and over precipices without knowing what was on the other side. Some have called him an "Adrenaline Junkie" because of it. Sometimes I think he's part Ragabash. Conn is a force of nature in his own right. Other Ahrouns give him a wide berth in battle as he reaps a swath of destruction around him."

They spoke the rest of the day of the 13 tribes which make up the Garou society and their relations with one another. The Fianna, Get of Fenris, Children of Gia and others. These dynamics confused and angered him. It seemed that the Garou spent almost as much time fighting between themselves as they did fighting the Wyrm.

As the sun began to set, they made their way back to the Glen. This time Conn had a deer on a spit, which must have been roasting since they left. John had his guitar out and was playing a simple tune. Oz approached Hope.

"Hi Oz, how goes school!"

"Great, I've learned a lot so far. I've been meaning to ask you something though. Given the Garou view on humans and mages, how did you guys hook up with Derrick?"

"Hah, that's quite a story. Come on, I'll tell it around the fire so the rest can hear."

As they approach, Conn was starting to serve up the Venison. They took their portion and dug in. The assembled Garou made short work of the carcass. As plates were cleared, Hope stood up.

"Oz has requested a story and I'm only glad to tell it. It's the story of how the Red Moon Pack came West and met up with their Mage friend."

Most of the gathered Sept applauded and took a seat around the fire. They'd obviously heard this before and were looking forward to it again. Conn groaned and said "Not that one!" 

Krieg slapped him on the back a few times. "Relax you don't come off too bad when she tells it!" Laughter came from all around. 

Hope began to tell the story of the Red Moon packs first adventures together, which began in New Jersey of all places. While eating at a typical American fast-food restaurant, Conn discovered that there was a Bane spirit inhabiting the broiler that the burgers were cooked on. It was tainting the burgers; eat enough of them and you'd eventually turn into a Fomori, a corrupted minion of the Wyrm.

So Conn being Conn, he killed the stove. The problem was he didn't go into the Umbra to attack the Bane spirit; he just went after the stove! It was quite a sight, seeing the Mighty Conn hammering away at it. They barely made it out before the Police arrived. Conn then made it his mission to destroy all burger broilers. Quite a foe for a Garou who when in Crinos form was over 11 feet tall and weight over 2000 pounds! 

A Wyrm creature was still worth killing tough, and the pack convinced Conn that doing this one stove at a time would never work. They decided to find the source. That turned out to be a factory in Kansas. It was as they were making their run against that factory that they met Derrick.

Derrick was not physically there, he was hacked into the facilities security system. The place made more than broilers apparently. It was also a laboratory for the Technocracy, which was also in league with Pentex, hence the Wyrm. Derrick was raiding the facilities data stores when he noticed the Garou coming in. 

From the outside the place looked like any other factory. But due to the labs inside it had elaborate physical security that was cleverly hidden. The pack would have been cut to shreds had Derrick not interfered and disabled the exterior sensors. He followed the pack through their attack, opening doors for them, closing others in front of their foes, and finally warning them over the PA when reinforcements were arriving.

Derrick contacted them later. He liked the way they fought, and they appreciated the help. Given their missions in life, Derrick's to harass the Technocracy and the Pack's to harass Pentex, a mutual trust was arrived at that eventually led to a close working relationship. It also helped that Derrick was rich and could fund their exploits.

Other stories began to be told, some humorous, some not. Songs of past deeds were sung, and songs of remembrance. Conn's brews appeared again and everyone had their fill. Eventually Oz began to get the feeling that this was where he belonged. He'd always felt like sort of an outsider, even when running with the Scooby gang. Now he felt at home, and it was a nice feeling to have.

Everyone eventually headed to their beds. Tomorrow promised rain one of the Theurges said, so even Conn came in for some cover. He changed in to his full wolf form, which was still huge by comparison, and curled up inside his lean-too. Oz drifted off to sleep, thinking of what the future would hold.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

TBC


	10. Chapter 9 Change of Plans

Change of Plans 

-------------------------------------------------------------

Derrick spent the rest of the night and most of the morning sleeping at the Omaha VA chantry. He actually detested the fact that he needed to sleep; it was a waste of time. When he was totally immersed in the Web, he could put it off for a long time. When he was offline, he usually used his magic to stay awake as long as he could, consuming large quantities of caffeine along the way. Eventually it would catch up with him though and he'd be out for a while.

After waking and scamming some more coffee, he found his palmtop and jacked in. One of the Sons of Ether, a group of Tradition Mages that were considered Mad Scientists by most people, had come up with a neural interface based on of all things, Firewire. On a rare drunk binge with a few of his buddies, Derrick actually agreed to be a "test" subject and had a data jack implanted behind his right ear. Using this was somewhere between his VR rig and total immersion. 

He didn't normally do this in front of others, hard wiring himself to a computer, because it freaked out the sleepers and exposed him to Paradox. Here in the Chantry it was not a problem.

He did a scan of the Garage in Seattle. If the attack on him last night was planned, the place might be compromised. The exterior looked fine. As he sent his sensors inside, he found JYD asleep in his usual spot. Kicking in another small rote, Derrick brought his icon up on the Big Screen TV across from JYD.

"Yo J!" he shouted, stirring the Bone Gnawer from his sleep, which was pretty much all the bag of bones did. You'd think he was a cat!

Looking around, JYD saw Derrick on the screen and yipped at him. That reminded Derrick that he still needed to work on that wolf-speak to English translation filter.

"Did anything unusual happen last night?" A quick bark and a shake of his head "no". 

"Well, keep your eyes open. I was jumped last night and I don't know if it was random or if I was a target. I'll be back this evening." Another short bark and a nod. JYD then got up to begin a patrol of the place, and probably to go water the fire hydrant.

Derrick now turned his attention back to the Bat Cave. He wanted to make sure that no one was sniffing around it. Launching a series of traces and checking his log files, he couldn't find any evidence that someone other then him had been there. Feeling safer with this info, Derrick took out his palmtop and uploaded himself to the Digital Web, in front of the entrance to the Bat Cave.

He purposely created it so that not even he could port right into the cave. That would open too many holes. It might be possible for one of the other Elites to spoof his IDs and fake things out. It was EXTREAMLY difficult, but not impossible given time and CPU power.

Checking his tell-tales once more and finding them intact, he entered his construct. His first order of business was to check on all the search bots he launched and the backups. All had finned normally and produced results. His indexing of what he scammed from the Council of Watchers was complete. It was as he was going over the topic index that something clicked. The Order of Hermes.

The OH was one of the Tradition mage orders. They thought of themselves as the "ruling" order, but the other Traditions didn't think of it that way. They were scholars for the most part, real Merlin types. Also probably the most active opponents of the Technocracy besides the VA's. In the references that mentioned them in the Watchers data, the two groups appeared to be in conflict with one another. Interesting. "_Who can I go to with this_?" Derrick asked himself.

He decided to expand that to all of the paranormal and supernatural texts he had access to, including all of the Order of Hermes data that was online and cross reference anything about them and the Watchers. He then launched another search bot to find more. He's get a face to face with someone in the Order later. 

Now it was time for some more caffeine and to begin pouring through his email. Most of it was standard; correspondence with some VA friends of his, and even a few sleepers he had contact with. One or two inquiries about the bands availability. He was in the middle of replying to one when one of his systems beeped.

Switching over, he found one of the older flags he had set up got a hit. It was checking for signs of Pentex activity in South America. Pentex was a corrupter of everything belonging to the Wyld and the main enemy of his Garou compatriots. So he was always on the lookout for activity related to the conglomerate. The South American rain forests were a prime target for Pentex. The pack had only recently returned from Brazil, fighting incursions into the Rain Forest there.

Now it looked like they were up to the same tricks. Red Moon had shut down one operation, and now a Pentex subsidiary (they always used subsidiaries) was clear cutting again. Slash and burn. It looked like they brought muscle this time, the Brazilian Army. This will get Conn and Krieg's back up. He needed to phone in.

Well "phone" was not exactly the way it worked. The pack was electronically out of contact. Not that they ever were really in contact, Derrick still couldn't get any of them to carry cell phones. Fortunately Derrick had other methods available. In addition to being a Master of Correspondence (teleport capability, not writing letters), he was also an adept in the Mind sphere. 

So while he actually did use a cell phone on his end, the call came to Hope as a tingle in her mind.

_"Is that you Derrick?"_

_"Hi Hope! Everyone naked and howling at the moon yet?"_

_"Ha! You're going to have to come up with better lines to see me naked Derrick, what's up?_

_"Just wanted to let you know that your friends in Brazil are at it again. Talk it over with the Pack and let me know what you decide. I'm in if you decide to go."_

_"Damn. Okay, but I think I know which way this will go. Sunnydale will have to wait. Start making travel plans. I'd like to bring Oz with us, but that means we won't be able to leave until tomorrow at the earliest. We'll leave from here; you get yourself and your gear down there. Don't use the same place. Let me know where to rendezvous as soon as you can."_

_"10-4. You might want to ask for some extra help. I think we taught them a lesson last time and they might be ready for us." _

_"I'm sure there will be some volunteers. Later."_

_"Later."_

Shit. He really didn't like South America. It was a 3rd world country, which meant low-tech to him. Oh there were ways around that. Power was not really an issue and Derrick had a portable satellite uplink that let him stay connected. Getting into the Digital Web would not be a problem either, there were access nodes in Rio and other major cities in SA. It was just the general down-levelness of the place that bugged him. 

Gear. The pack preferred to fight with their "Natural" assets, but Derrick had a feeling they'd need more then that. Just because they didn't like guns, it didn't mean they didn't know how to use them. Right now all they had on hand were some small arms stuff. Conn and Krieg had the Dessert Eagles they were so fond of, and the rest of them had various 9mm's. 

Fortunately there were plenty of places to get more bigger and better weapons as long as you had the money, which Derrick did. Next stop, LA.

Oz and the rest of the pack awoke shortly after dawn. It was indeed raining, but only a light mist. Apparently this was a typical winter day in the Pacific Northwest. After breakfast Oz met up with Grandmother again. Today his lessons were about some of the gifts that a Garou could learn from various spirits, and some other rites and rituals.

After lunch, Grandmother decided it was time to explain to Oz the concept of Rage.

"Garou are supernatural beings. The gifts and rites I described to you would be called Magic by most humans. Most magic requires a power source, and the source we Garou make use of is called Gnosis. It's derived from the energy given off from living beings. We can produce our own Gnosis, but we can also absorb it from other sources. The best place to do so it right here, in a Caern. Caerns are always built where there is a source of Gnosis, what a human mage would call an intersection of Way lines or Node. You'll learn how to access it from the spirits."

"But a Garou's true power lies in his Rage. Our rage is what powers our transformation between the 5 forms a Garou is capable of; the human or Homid form, the caveman or glabro form, the werewolf battle form called Crinos, the Dire Wolf or Hispo form and finally the full wolf or lupus form. All have their advantages and disadvantages."

"A Garou who cannot control his Rage cannot transform. In the short time I've known you Oz I find you to be a level headed young man. I've seen no sign of Rage within you. But I'd be willing to bet you've felt it before. Not enough to make the change, but you could feel it lying beneath the surface."

Oz nodded in confirmation. He'd felt that before on several occasions. Most recently with Veruca.

"Our rage is also what fuels us in battle. I know I've told you that the Ahrouns are the warriors of the Garou tribes, but in fact ALL Garou are considered warriors. It's just that the Ahrouns are closer to their rage then the other auspices. It is a fine line to walk. Rage must still be controlled by reason. If you allow it to consume you, you can go into a frenzy. In a frenzied state the difference between friend and foe disappears. Everything you see is a target. And Oz, most of the time when you back down from the frenzy, you have no recollection of what happened."

The light bulbs suddenly kicked in for Oz. Buffy had told him that after he killed Veruca, he went after Willow too. Buffy had to tranquilize him.

"I can see the understanding in your face Oz. We believe we know why you only transform during the full moon. You are susceptible to the "collective reality" as the Mages call it. Humans believe that werewolves change turning the full moon, therefore that becomes reality for you. The problem is because you have no conscious control over your change; when you transform you go into frenzy, burning with Rage. When your Rage is spent you return to your normal Homid form, physically exhausted. When you wake you have no recollection of what happened during your frenzy."

"How do I learn to control it Grandmother?" Oz pleaded. He didn't want to risk anyone's life again.

"That is difficult to answer Oz. It's different for all of us. To most of us it comes easy. For others such as your self it takes some trial and error. Our hope is you will discover your particular way when we send you on your journey."

Before she could continue, Conn and Hope approached the pair of them.

"Something has come up Oz. Pentex has restarted an operation we shut down a few months ago. The pack is going down to Brazil to stop it again. Derrick thinks they'll be ready for us this time. It could be quite a fight. We'd like you to come along with us, but it's up to you."

Brazil? He'd hoped to be going back to Sunnydale, to at least let everyone know he was OK. He'd left some stuff behind too. But he was sort of in a groove now. His new found family had him jazzed up. There was still much for him to learn, and he wanted Red Moon to teach him. He'd call one of his friends in Sunnydale to have him back his stuff up. He didn't want to bother the Scoobies with it.

"Okay, cool. What about the Rite of Passage though?"

All three looked at Grandmother.

"We'll begin tonight at sundown. You will be sent into the Spirit world Oz. I can't guarantee you will complete your quest tonight, but it's more then possible. And I'd rather you did not leave until you do."

Again he nodded. All three accepted Grandmother's pronouncement without argument.

"Enough for today. Go and eat something Oz and then find yourself a quiet place to sit for a while. If you know anything about meditation, this would be a good time to use it and prepare yourself for your Quest."

Oz did as she asked. Grabbing some more stew, he ate quickly. Leaving the glen, he went to a stream he'd noticed on his mornings walk. Sitting there he contemplated the day's events and how the last few days had altered the course of his life. Until a few days ago his ultimate ambition was a record deal. Now he had some kind of Destiny to fulfill, just like Buffy. He could try to walk away from it, but he'd seen what happened when Buffy tried to do that. It didn't work. And he didn't want to. Having some kind of higher purpose in life pleased him.

----------------------------------------------------------------

TBC - Trip The Light Fantastic


	11. Chapter 10 Trip the Light Fantastic

Trip the Light Fantastic  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Oz didn't realize the sun had come down until John tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"It's time Oz."  
  
Oz got up and followed him back to the glen. The whole Sept was in attendance, including some Oz hadn't met. They must have just arrived.  
  
Conn intercepted the pair and motioned for them to follow. He brought then over to the Pack's yurt.  
  
"I'm assumin ye' ave 'ad a wee problem with clothes whene'r ye transformed 'afore Oz."  
  
"Um, yeah". When you went from 5'6" 145 pounds to 6'5" and over 250 pounds, the cloths you were wearing usually did not survive the trip.  
  
"Well, strip down and I'll show you how to put this 'ere on." He held a bundle of tartan cloth in his hands. "All the way mind, ye'll be goin regimental!"  
  
"This be a Great Kilt, or 9-yard kilt. It's just one long piece o' cloth, and there's a special way to wrap it around y'self, and then belt it. It's also a fetish I created. It will cross into the Umbra with you, and "meld" into your being when ye transform into Crinos, Hispo or Lupus. That way when yea return to homid, yea won't be naked! When we've the time we'll find a spirit to teach ya the Rite so ye can do this with yur own clothes."  
  
Oz was not too thrilled with the idea of wearing a kilt, but not being naked was a good thing. After he was dressed, all three headed towards the fire pit. John indicated that he should go and sit in a place that had been reserved for him. The Rite Master came and stood behind him and addressed the gathered Sept.  
  
"Tonight a young cub seeks to enter adulthood within our Sept. The task set before him will be to enter the spirit realm and discover the parts of his past that are unknown to him. Before he begins his journey, he must be cleansed."  
  
The rite master took a branch with some leaves still on it. Oz couldn't tell from what kind of plant it came. Sticking the branch into the fire, he removed it when it began to smolder. The rite master circled Oz three times, chanting in the Garou tongue, waving the smoking branch as he went.  
  
After the third pass he stopped to stand in front of Oz and began a low growl. The others in the Sept took up the growl as well, and it soon rose to a Howl. As it reached a crescendo, they halted abruptly.  
  
In English the Rite Master continued; "May the taint of the Wyrm be gone from you. May the taint of the Weaver be gone from you. May you always walk in Luna's light and with Gaia's blessing".  
  
"The cub has been cleansed." Spoke the Rite Master. "Now let us send him on his journey. Who will lead him across the Gauntlet into the Spirit world?"  
  
John arose from where he sat. "I will Rite Master. I am "Talks to the Wind", Child of Gaia and Theurge of the Red Moon pack."  
  
"Step forward Talks to the Wind and lead your charge."  
  
John came to stand before Oz. "This is how this works. We are going to cross through what we call "The Gauntlet", the barrier between the physical world and the spirit world, also called the Umbra. Eventually you'll learn to do this yourself. Once there I will set you on a path, but you must walk it alone. I will await your return."  
  
He produced a hand mirror, framed in tortoise shell. Standing beside Oz and taking his hand, John brought the mirror up so that both of them could look into it. Suddenly Oz felt dizzy. His perceptions became muffled, as if he was immersed in Jell-O. As quickly as it began, it was over.  
  
John was still holding his hand. Oz looked at him and he smiled. "Welcome to the Umbra Oz."  
  
Oz looked around. It was still night time. Looking up he saw a gibbous moon sitting above the clearing, between half and full. He could have sworn it was a half moon when before he crossed over. He could tell he was still standing in the glen before the fire, but it was somehow different. He could see things dancing in the fire, spirits rejoicing in there element. He could see the assembled Garou sitting around it, but not as they were. Rather he saw bright figures that represented them. All radiated with a pure white light, but also had other colors swirling around. The same was true of the trees and other living things surrounding the glen.  
  
"What you're seeing Oz is the spirits that inhabit us all, souls if you want to call it that. Derrick calls them avatars, some people call them auras. You and I are physically here in the spirit world, so we see each other normally."  
  
Oz spotted some movement and he saw the shining representations of the Totem spirits belonging to the Sept and its packs.  
  
"Time to send you on your way Oz." John transformed into his full wolf form. Raising his head, he sent out a low howl, followed by various yips and growls. Before him a silver light shot out low to the ground, winding through the trees into the forest. He reverted back to human form.  
  
"This is your trail Oz. I don't know exactly where it will lead you or what you'll encounter on the way. Return when you've found the answers you seek."  
  
"Thanks" was Oz's only reply. He turned from John and began to follow the path.  
  
As he left sight of the glen, the trail narrowed. He could walk it, but had to push aside the occasional branch. He walked for perhaps 10 minutes when he noticed a change in the air. He couldn't quite pin down what it was. It smelled earthier perhaps. He took perhaps another 20 steps, when he got a strange feeling. He was not alone. Buffy called it her Spidey Sense.  
  
On guard, Oz proceeded. The shining trail continued but it looked to Oz as if he came to the forest's edge. Before him was an opening similar to the Glen in the Gazzam Caern. There were both wolves and homids going about their daily business. He noticed that the homid men were dressed in kilts like the one he wore now, wrapped around their wearers and then draped over one shoulder. Some wore white linen shirts, others were bare chested.  
  
Suddenly, springing from the forest came other Garou in Crinos form, attacking. The adult males and females had no chance to organize a defense other then to fight individually. The young scattered and ran to the safety of the forest. Oz stood frozen, unable to act.  
  
As he watched, a young female ran towards him, a Crinos form Garou in her pursuit. Oz could only stand there as she was clawed from behind. As she fell before him Oz could see half her spine was exposed. The Garou responsible howled Victory and turned to find another victim.  
  
Oz could feel his bile rising up, but with it fear. He tried to will the change to happen but couldn't. Above him he saw the still gibbous moon and felt defeated.  
  
It looked like the invaders were going to win when more Garou entered the field, apparent allies of the locals. With howls of Outrage and Challenge, they entered the fray and the tide quickly turned. The remaining invaders fled.  
  
The battle over, Oz felt the power of movement return to his legs. He went forward and knelt besides the body of the fallen girl. Turning her over, he looked at her still face. Suddenly her eyes opened!  
  
In a heavy Scottish accent she spoke to him, "These are your people, and you stood and did nothing. When will you Rage!" With that she became still again.  
  
Aghast Oz stood quickly and moved away from her. He could see the silver path led him on through the center of the clearing. Moving forward he came amongst the survivors. Those who could were tending the wounded. None seemed to notice him.  
  
As he was about to exit the clearing on the other side, he was belted on the back of the head and sent reeling to the ground.  
  
"Fear? You useless welp! Fear has no place in a Garou's heart! We fear nothing, not even death itself!"  
  
Picking himself up, Oz faced a bloodied and scarred Garou in Crinos form.  
  
"You could have forewarned us, and fewer would have died. You could have joined us and fought with honor, but you stood there like a coward! When will you Rage!"  
  
Oz turned to run again, but tripped. On the ground he turned to see what caused him to fall, the body of another young girl. Her sightless eyes never moved, but she spoke to Oz, "Will you sing our song Galliard? Will you tell the people of the slaughter that occurred this day?"  
  
Oz got up and ran again. Following the silver trail, he was back in the deep forest. He kept moving wanting to put distance between himself and what just happened. Ahead of him, he heard a snapping sound.  
  
Oz froze. Something was up there, ahead of him. Trying to be as quite as possible, Oz crept ahead. He found a group of Garou. None were in homid form. Three were in the lead, all in their full wolf Lupus form. Two more followed in Crinos form. They appeared to be stalking something. One looked like it was getting berated silently for making noise and possibly giving them away.  
  
Oz could hear more movement. There appeared to be a trail in front of them, crossing their path. A large shape was approaching from the left. As it passed them, the hunters sprang into action.  
  
The object of their hunt was nothing short of an abomination. It actually resembled one of the Demons he'd seen Buffy fight. It had rams horns on its head, a human face, but with fangs like a vamp. Pustules covered its sparsely furred body. Its upper body was that of an over large and fat human, while it's legs resembled a Rams. It screamed pitifully and began to defend itself.  
  
As before it looked like the fight was just about over. The hunters had their prey wounded and on its knees when crashing from the other side came more of the horrors.  
  
One of the Crinos hunters screamed "Ambush!" and soon they were on the defensive. Two of the wolves tried to transform into Crinos but died in the process. The odds were now 3 to one against the Garou.  
  
Once again Oz stood frozen. He purposely tried to incite himself, to gather his rage, but he failed. Looking up, he cursed the still gibbous moon.  
  
While they gave as good as they got, superior numbers won out and the last Garou fell. The remaining monsters began to feast on their remains. Oz was horrified.  
  
Oz found that his path lay through the battle ground. Trusting that they would not be able to see him like most of the other things he'd encountered he pressed on. He made it to the other side, when something grabbed at his ankle. Looking down he saw the upper body of one of the Garou hunters. Only his head, shoulders and one arm remained, and that one arm had a death grip on Oz!  
  
"You stood there and watched! What kind of Fianna are you! Standing there like a frightened pup! When will you Rage!"  
  
Oz kicked at the thing holding him. Freeing himself he ran again.  
  
After running for a few minutes, Oz slowed to a walk, but did not stop. Fear. It seemed a constant accusation of the Garou he's encountered here. What was he afraid of? What fear was holding me back? Failure? No. He'd never been afraid of sticking his neck out. He'd joined the Scooby gang hadn't he?  
  
The path he was following led to a road. Not a highway, a rural type road that had grass still growing in the middle with two tracks for tires. The shining path turned to the left to follow the road. Oz continued to follow.  
  
Eventually the road led to a building, but not like one he'd ever seen before. It was more of a Adams Family version of a building. Very gothic. As he got closer, Oz could see that the walls of the building was more like an insect shell then anything else. He could see spiders running around the whole place, but in neat ordered lines.  
  
Looking around he noticed that one of the windows at the ground level had a light coming from it. Moving up to it, Oz peered in. His heart almost stopped.  
  
Inside was the laboratory from UC Sunnydale in perfect detail. There was Willow engaged in some type of spell casting. The whole scene played out before his eyes.  
  
Willow tossed ingredients into the growing fire. She began to chant, "I conjure thee by the Saracen Queen, and by the name of hell. Let them know no love or solace, let them find no peace as well."  
  
Willow appeared infused with energy and a few small objects around her, beakers and test tubes and such, start to levitate. Willow was nearing the end of her spell. The energy building, she took a photo of Oz from her pile of ingredients.  
  
"Wow" Oz thought to himself. He'd said he wouldn't have blamed her if Willow had cast a hex on Veruca and him. And here she was doing it. You go girl.  
  
"Let this image seal his fate, not to love - but only hate..."  
  
Oz felt his heart ache with pain, pain at the hurt he caused her that brought her to this. But as she moved to add his picture to the fire, she makes the mistake of really looking at it. She stops, stricken. Then tries again to cast it into the flame - but it's too late. She can't go through with it. She starts to cry all over again. The spell is broken. The power drains from the room and objects fall to the ground.  
  
Oz feels only more pain. He doesn't really know why she stopped, but he hoped it was out of what ever love Willow still had for him.  
  
Then a sarcastic voice breaks her tearful silence. "Wow. For a minute there I thought you might actually play rough."  
  
Willow turned to see Veruca in the doorway. Oz feels a chill go down his spine. He decided to try and intervene, but again he is frozen in place.  
  
"Sometimes you have to, you know, to keep what's yours. Sometimes you have to kill." Veruca moved to block the door. It's the only way in or out of the room. She looked out the window.  
  
"Well what do you know? Sun's almost down."  
  
Willow and Veruca face off. Willow is shaking with rage and fear, and Veruca appears to be relishing every moment of it.  
  
"Can't say I'm surprised you didn't go through with your little hex. You don't  
  
have the teeth."  
  
"You don't know what I have. You don't know anything about me."  
  
"I know what you love. I have his scent on me right now."  
  
Willow's heard enough. In tears, she tries to dart past Veruca to the door, but Veruca catches her with a vicious back hand, sending her sprawling to the floor.  
  
"Go ahead and cry, but you should have seen this coming. You can't tame a wild thing. He's not yours any more. While he's in you, he'd be thinking about me, no. Not thinking. It's deeper than that. Why don't you just try to relax now? In a minute or two it'll all be over."  
  
That's when the door behind her gets kicked open and the "other" Oz enters, breathless and enraged. He and Veruca square off. The Oz outside the window remembers his actions, but is a little wigged by seeing it from this perspective.  
  
"Don't touch her again!"  
  
"Come stop me. I like it rough, remember?"  
  
The sun has faded completely from the room now and the change begins.  
  
"You want to hurt me, hurt me. But leave her out of this."  
  
"How can I? She's the reason you're living in cages. She's blinding you! When she's gone, you'll be able to admit what you are."  
  
They are both in their Glabro form now, still human, but the primitive being is showing through.  
  
"You don't want to find out what I am."  
  
"You're an animal. Animals kill."  
  
"You're right. We kill." He leaps at Veruca.  
  
Both quickly transform into Crinos, battle forms. Willow turned away and shuts her ears against the sounds of Oz and Veruca's bodies as they twist and crack. Meanwhile, Veruca and Oz continue to battle throughout the grotesque metamorphosis.  
  
Willow huddled in a corner, the wolves blocking her exit. As the battle continued Oz gained the advantage. He gets a jaw lock on Veruca's neck and violently bites down. She shrieks with pain, Oz does not relent. When he's finished, he releases his bite and Veruca's body falls to the ground, inert. Then the Oz Wolf turns toward Willow. His maw is bloodied and his eyes are the cold eyes of a killer, there no hint recognition there.  
  
Willow turned and faced the giant beast crouching low in front of her, baring its razor-like teeth. Nearly out of her mind with grief and terror now, she says in a tiny voice, "Oz?.." She reached a trembling hand out, as if to stroke him.  
  
The Oz watching from outside began beating the window, shouting. "No Willow! Get away! Run!"  
  
Without missing a beat, the Oz werewolf lunged toward her, going for the kill. But he is snatched away from Willow only milliseconds before her certain death.  
  
Buffy arrived just in time. She grabbed Oz by the hind legs and dragged him away from Willow. There is a brief fight between slayer and wolf, but Buffy manages to kick him upside the head, dazing him long enough to use the tranquilizer gun and sedate him.  
  
Once the Oz werewolf passes out, Buffy rushes to Willow and gatheres her into her arms.  
  
The scene before Oz faded away, leaving an empty room. Why show him this? It was beginning to seem like some weird Frank Capra film. Wait, if Oz followed that logic, that meant there was a theme to all this, but what?  
  
His fear. What was he afraid of? The truth smacked him in the face; hurting Willow, or any other innocent human for that matter. He had no control in his Crinos form. He would have killed Willow as easily as Veruca. But that didn't have to happen now, did it? Now that he understood the truth about his nature, and that the Rage could be tempered with reason?  
  
He noticed the shining path again, leading away from the strange building. He continued on.  
  
The path led him off the road and back into the forest. It meandered for a while, leading him in no particular direction that Oz could tell. Again it finally brought him to a clearing, and a familiar one. It was the same Garou encampment he'd been to at the beginning of his quest. All seemed peaceful, but wary of his last visit here, Oz stretched his senses out for any signs of trouble.  
  
Finding none, Oz decided to enter the Caern. There were perhaps 7 or 8 people around and about. No one seemed to notice his presence. 3 older men were sitting near the fire in discussion. Oz decided to eavesdrop.  
  
One dressed in breeches and a white linen shirt addressed another wearing a kilt. "Angus, I was in the town this morning. The tale is that a number of the Osborne families are heading to America".  
  
"Ach, we can't let them leave!" said the third, a redhead peppered with grey.  
  
Angus replied to him, "Shaun, the Osbornes are our Kinfolk, not slaves. The Impergium ended eons ago. We canna tell them where to live and what to do. We've treated them as friends, but none really know the truth."  
  
So it was true Oz said to himself, my family is Kinfolk. One mystery solved.  
  
"But what will we do without them! You know as well as I that most of the young we've had lately come from them."  
  
Angus answered this too. "Not all of them will leave, some will remain. And there are others. I suppose some of the younger Garou will want to follow them too. That we'll have to keep an eye on."  
  
The conversation would have continued, but it ended when a Howl filled the air. Oz was not sure, but he thought it was a call for help. What ever it was, it galvanized the three Garou. Angus shouted for the women to stay and the three charged off in the calls direction, changing into their battle forms as they went. Oz ran after them.  
  
The Howls in front of them continued, getting closer. They broke from the forest path onto a dirt road, ahead on the road a battle was taking place between Garou. This time Oz had no doubt as to who was who. Eight Black Spiral Dancers were attacking some of the Fianna from the Caern.  
  
It appeared that most of the Fianna under attack were female, some fairly young. As they ran towards them, Oz could see discarded packages along the road. They must have been jumped while returning from the village after a shopping trip or something. All were in Crinos form trying to defend themselves.  
  
The males were still a hundred yards or so away. As Oz ran, he saw one of the younger ones fall before the onslaught. Oz could feel the anger boiling inside him. Not this time! His anger turned to Rage. He could feel it as a presence in his soul. He reached out and embraced it, willing himself to change. Oz could feel his gait change along with his center of balance. Looking down at himself, he was in his Crinos form. He realized that he was conscious of this, he was present and in control. He reveled in it! Woe onto them!  
  
In short order Oz, Angus and the others jumped into the fray, taking two of the enemy down in the first rush. Oz found himself facing one of the beasts by himself. They both took a moment to size each other up. They were both about the same size, but the Spiral's coat was splotchy and mangy. One of his eyes appeared to be clouded over with a cataract. The Spiral launched the first attack. Oz dodged and counter attacked, slashing with claws and gouging his opponent. First blood to Oz.  
  
They circled as they fought, slashing with claws and dodging. Oz saw an opening and took it. Having spent many hours watching WWF wrestling, he tried a throw he thought would be easy. It was, much to Oz's surprise! While his opponent was on the ground, he tried another. Taking a running jump, Oz came down with all his weight on his elbow, into the enemy's chest. "Atom Drop" he thinks it's called. Oz could hear and feel bones breaking.  
  
While the enemy was still down, Oz got up and stood over him. With his claws, Oz simply ripped his throat out, ending it. Oz turned towards the rest of the battle. Only three Black Spirals remained, and they were fighting for their lives. One had his back to Oz, defending itself against Angus. Oz simply walked up behind it and drove his claws into its kidneys. Angus finished it with a powerful punch, snapping its head back and breaking its neck. They both Howled in glee.  
  
The final two attempted to run. One of the other elder males Howled, and it stopped both in their tracks. The two adult females took the opportunity to finish them off.  
  
The fight over, the woman Garou transformed back to human form and quickly went over to the fallen Fianna child, who had also reverted. She was still alive. One of the woman held her hands over the wound and chanted words in the Garou tongue, healing the wounds.  
  
The 3 elder males then regarded Oz. Angus spoke.  
  
"I dinna ken who you are laddie, but we're grateful for your help."  
  
Extending his hand to Angus, "Daniel Osborne, it was my pleasure."  
  
"An Osborne eh? Yer accent seems strange though." Relied the one Oz knew was called Shawn.  
  
"I'm visiting from America, looking up ancestors." taking Shawn's hand as well.  
  
"Ach, a Yank eh? Well welcome to the old country!"  
  
"Yes welcome!" said the third. "I'm Michael "Cassan-ny-Greiney" MacDermott. These two are Angus "S'doo yn Feeagh" McCloud and Shawn "Easht lesh dagh cleaysh" Osborne. It's likely Shawn here be one o' the relatives you seek!  
  
As they stood greeting one another, Oz saw the shining path appear over Shawn's shoulder. Must be time to go.  
  
"I'm pleased to meet all of you, but I must be going"  
  
A look of concern on his face, "We won't hear of it laddie! Yea must come back to the Caern so we may welcome yea properly!" Comments of agreement all around.  
  
"I wish I could, but I'm on my Rite of Passage and the spirits beckon me."  
  
"Ach, well far be it from us to interfere in that. I dinna want the spirits angry with us, and such a Rite brooks no distractions. Good luck to you laddie! If yea ever be in need, a debt is owed to yea by the Sept of the Whispering Glen."  
  
Everyone shook Oz's hand again. The women kissed his cheek and thanked him, and then Oz proceeded on his way.  
  
The path led him back into the forest. In short order, he found himself at the edge of another clearing. In the middle sat Talks with the Wind, waiting for him. He stood as Oz approached him.  
  
"Did you find what you were looking for?"  
  
"I am Daniel Osborne, Galliard of the Fianna Tribe. The Osborne family that came to America are indeed Fianna kinfolk."  
  
"Great! And the other little thing?"  
  
Oz reached for his Rage. It was a little more difficult this time. The stimulus was not there. He pulled an old actors trick. He saw on a TV show once that when an actor wanted to cry real tears, he thought of something tragic in his life. Oz thought of Veruca attacking Willow. His Rage sprang forward and Oz willed himself into Crinos form. Looking up, the gibbous moon still held station above the clearing.  
  
John smiled "Cool! Stay like that; the others will get a kick out it when we return."  
  
Standing next to him, John brought up a small mirror, different from the other one. "Now is as good a time as any to show you how to do this. The Gauntlet as I said is a barrier between what we know as the Physical world and the Umbra, the spirit world. The Umbra mirrors the physical world in some places. You could call it an imprint of the physical. Only things whose force of life is strong get imprinted. Hence the trees you see here from the Caern."  
  
"We therefore equate the Umbra as a mirror world. Looking into a mirror, you can gaze into the other world from where you are. This is called "peeking". You can then take it a step further and "will" yourself across. In some places that Gauntlet is heavier then others and it takes more strength of will to cross. Here, the Gauntlet is fairly thin, so it's a great place for your first attempt."  
  
He handed Oz the small mirror. "Here. Take this and while looking into in, think of seeing the glen as you know it. When you have that image in place, just imagine yourself there, in the image."  
  
Oz looked in the mirror, but only saw himself. Concentrating on John's instructions, in a few moments his visage disappeared and was replaced by the glen. As he began to imagine himself standing there, the feeling of being in a Jell-O bath hit him again. Looking up, he saw the pleased faces of the Sept surrounding him.  
  
"The Cub Returns!" Exclaimed the Rite Master. "And we see at least part of his quest has been fulfilled."  
  
Oz remembered he was still in Crinos form. John returned from the Umbra and appeared beside him. Oz willed himself back to his human form. Shouts and growls of approval rang out.  
  
"I am Daniel Osborne. A Galliard of the Fianna Tribe."  
  
That produced a loud whoop from Conn! "I knew it!"  
  
"My ancestors are indeed Kinfolk of the Fianna, and arrived here in America at the turn of the last century I think. My mother has a family tree that might help track them down when I can get to it. I discovered that the block to my Rage was my fear, fear that I would hurt the ones I loved when I lost control of my Rage. That fear is gone now."  
  
The Sept leader Whiteclaw stood next to Oz and placed one hand on his shoulder. He turned to the assembled Garou. "Do any doubt that the quest the Cub was set upon has been completed?" Silence.  
  
"Then let it be said that the Cub is no more, and let the Garou take his place amongst the Sept."  
  
The Sept leader stepped back, and the Rite Master took his place. "It is appropriate at this time that the new adult be given his Garou name. Have you chosen one Oz?"  
  
That stopped him. "No, I haven't"  
  
"I've got one" Shouted Krieg, smiling. How about "Guardian of the Chosen One".  
  
Whiteclaw spoke up. "Appropriate, given Oz's first task in the World. I also believe it is one he will return to. What say you Oz?"  
  
"I like it!"  
  
"So be it" continued the Rite Master. He circled Oz three times, chanting in the Garou tongue. After the third pass he stood in front of Oz. An assistant handed him a small wooden bucket and a dipper which had a wooden handle, but a cup made of Silver on the end.  
  
Taking a dipperful of water, he poured it over Oz's head. He continued in English, "We welcome into the Sept "Guardian the Chosen One". May he defend his Sept and his people with Honor. May his teeth and claws remain sharp and rend his enemies. May he use his skills, wit and wisdom to preserve Gaia the Earth Mother in all her aspects."  
  
Oz felt like he was just baptized, which he supposed was not too far from the truth.  
  
"The Rite of Passage is complete. Welcome to the Sept Oz." The Sept roared. Then Oz felt a cold liquid getting dumped on his head. A whole bucket full of beer! "Conn!"  
  
"Welcome to the tribe me boy-o! Here have another!" And Conn thrust a large clay mug into Oz's hand, brimming with beer. It was then that Oz noticed the fixings of a large party had been assembled in his absence, kegs and all. He was warmed with their faith in him. What if he'd failed?  
  
Krieg approached him, extending his hand. "Congratulations boy. Party all you want tonight. It will be our last for a while. Tomorrow we leave to face the beast." He lifted his own mug and drained it.  
  
"How long are we going to be down there?"  
  
"Oh, it shouldn't take more then a week or two. We'll be back before Christmas." Krieg slapped him on the back, hard! Then he went off to get a refill.  
  
Taking a large draught himself, Oz said to no one in particular, "Oh boy."  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
TBC - The War for Amazonia 


	12. Chapter 11 The War for Amazonia

The War for Amazonia 

----------------------------------------------

  
Five months. Two weeks he said! We'll be back before Christmas he said! But like Derrick surmised the Wyrm was waiting for Garou to arrive. It took five long months for the assembled packs to beat the Wyrm back.  
  
They'd left the morning after Oz's Rite of Passage. They didn't pack the yurt or much else for that matter. Hope explained that Derrick would bring down most of their gear.  
  
Their method of travel was called a "Moon Bridge". It created a connection between this Caern and another, allowing Garou to travel between them in only moment. The Gazzam Caern had the added advantage of possessing a "Stepping Stone", a type of a fetish which made the creation of Moon Bridges easier. Traveling the bridge was akin to walking along a mist covered road. The ground was barely visible beneath your feet and you could not see very far ahead. But it shrunk a journey of days down to just minutes.  
  
Their destination was a Caern outside of Rio de Janeiro. Derrick would set his base up in Rio, not being allowed in the Caern itself. From there the pack would go out to the Caern that was in danger in the midst of the Rain Forest. John had somehow contacted the Rio Caern while Oz was on his Quest. The moon bridge had to be opened from both ends at the same time to work. The Sept in Rio was glad to hear that Red Moon was returning to aid them again.  
  
After arriving, they met up with Derrick in town. He'd leased an empty warehouse and hired some of the local Bone Gnawers for security. He'd brought all sorts of weapons with him and the pack spent the first day in Rio prepping them and showing Oz how to use a gun.  
  
"I thought Garou didn't use guns, just tooth and claw?" Oz asked Hope.  
  
"Normally that would be the case Oz, but Derrick seems to think the Wyrm has an organized defense against us this time. That means soldiers and lots of them. We'll have to make up the difference with these."  
  
"Normally Oz, I don't get involved directly in the fight. I don't have the training and I'm much more useful acting as the Pack's personal AWACS." Derrick told Oz. At Oz's perplexed look, Derrick explained, "Airborne Warning and Control Systems. Using my art, I can keep an eye on everything related to the target and the battlefield. I can then direct the Pack in and out of the war zone and warn them of danger. Everyone in the Pack wears these." Derrick held up a piece of gold jewelry that looked like a spider.  
  
"Most Garou disdain tech of any kind. Red Moon can deal with guns, but guns are actually fairly low tech when you think about it, purely mechanical devices. This little baby is a communications device. I tried to use radios at first, but the pack breaking breaking them and they're difficult to use in Crinos form. I compromised by getting together with a Glass Walker friend of mine and creating these fetishes. They are all linked together. The wearers can communicate with one another in something similar to telepathy. It's also secure; I've added my own encryption schemes to it so the channel can't be hacked. Watch."  
  
He placed the spider on Oz's shoulder. After a moment, the thing got up and crawled up Oz's neck, onto his ear and clamped itself down on the top like an ear cuff. Oz almost tried to swat the thing off, but Derrick grabbed his hand. Major wiggens!  
  
Oz looked back at Derrick. "_Can you hear me Oz_?"  
  
He could, which was strange because Derrick never opened his mouth! "Cool!"  
  
"Yeah ain't it? Range is not a factor either. The only drawback is they need to be recharged with Tass or what you Garou call Gnosis. They're good for about 72 hours of continuous use between charges. They won't fall off unless you get your ear lopped off. To remove it, just reach up and grab it, they'll let go on their own."  
  
Oz did so. Derrick handed him a small container. "This one's yours. Keep it in this when your not wearing it and don't lose it! I don't have any spares right now. I'll be getting some more in a few days."  
  
"Guys come here!" Derrick shouted. Picking up a large case, he led everyone over to the gun range they had set up. Derrick had some kind of field around it to dampen the noise. The pack gathered around to watch. He began to assemble a huge rifle, placing it on a tripod. "This is a modified Anti-Aircraft gun. 20mm Cannon, recoilless, magazine fed with 10 rounds."  
  
There was a scope on the top, but instead of an eyepiece, Derrick hooked up a fiber optic cable to it and ran the cable to a laptop. Then he connected some type of apparatus to the muzzle of the weapon. It looked like a funnel, but the large end was closed. It was perforated to allow the muzzle flash and gasses escape. What he did next puzzled everyone. Instead of pointing it downrange at the concrete target he'd set up, he pointed it 90 degrees to the left of it.  
  
Going to the laptop, Derrick brought up a window that showed a live image of the target area. There was a cross hair and what Oz thought was range and windage info. Using a built-in trackball, Derrick centered the crosshairs on the target. "Fingers in ears everyone!" He only waited two seconds and pressed a red key he had on the laptop.  
  
BOOM! The the gun fired and the target disintegrated. "How's that sports fans!"  
  
"And oh it gets better, watch." Derrick began keying some things into the laptop. Looking over his shoulder, the pack could see the image shift. What appeared was familiar to some of them.   
  
"Derrick, that's the factory we raided last summer in Iowa" said Hope.  
  
"Yup. They abandoned the place after you trashed it."  
  
His screen showed the outside of the place, now becoming overgrown with weeds and rust. Using a small joystick Derrick zoomed in closer, but then the "camera's" perspective went through the wall. Derrick was now following an interior corridor. The image plunged down to a lower level, apparently underground. He then panned to the right and pierced another wall. It was dark on the other side. Derrick flipped a switch and the image became green and white. "Zero Lumens capability."  
  
It was a machinery room of some kind. Derrick settled on what looked like a generator and targeted it.  
  
"Fire in the hole!" Everyone covered their ear's as he fired the weapon again, and all could see generator explode. Almost nothing was left of it.  
  
"I AM ELITE!" Derrick shouted. "Distance and direction for this baby are not a factor! The only limit is if the bad guys have any mages around. It can be blocked if they can cut off my ability to "see". I've done what I can to mask it, but I could probably only fire once or twice before a mage with any skill can trace it back to the source. It's also vulgar as hell, so we use it sparingly."  
  
"You are one scary Son of a Bitch Derrick" Hope told him. The others grunted in agreement and returned to their tasks.  
  
"DS9" Oz said to Derrick.  
  
"You saw that episode too huh?"  
  
"Yup"  
  
"My inspiration for this little puppy. The bullet leaves the muzzle and then teleports right in front of the target. There are ways to shield yourself from it, but only if you know it's there."  
  
The next day the Pack traveled out to the Rain Forest and joined up with the other packs that came to help. The "Construir de Madeira" company, a lumber mill, was a subsidiary of Pentex. When the pack was last here, the company was clear cutting large swaths of the rain forest. This was happening all over Brazil, not just this one location. The local Garou and other werebeasts fought this all the time.  
  
What made this special was that an ancient and powerful Caern existed in the path of destruction, and not by coincidence. The Caern was their main target, destroying all those nice oxygen generating trees, and making a profit at it, was a just a nice byproduct for the Wyrm.   
  
Eight packs altogether had answered the call, three from Europe and five from North America. In order to further protect the Caern, a "War Camp" was set up a fair distance away from it. As many stationary defenses as they could think of were erected. If any Wyrm creatures decided to follow the Garou back, they'd find some surprises.   
  
Scouts went out from there to the site where the Madeira Company was clear cutting, with Derrick adding his tech to the mix. It looked like a standard logging operation, only nothing was being left behind. Nothing growing above ground was spared. After the trees were cut, trimmed of their leaves and hauled away, bulldozers ripped up the stumps and everything else. Sometimes the stumps would be harvested, American and European woodworkers would pay nice money for the burl wood they contained. Whatever was left was burned onsite.   
  
The main difference from last time was that the camp where the loggers lived was being guarded by units of the Exército Brasileiro, the Brazilian army. It appeared to be a light infantry battalion, with a small amount of armored support. Trained to US Army standards and doctrine, they were not a force to be ignored. Each bulldozer had troops riding "shotgun" armed with AK-47s. Light tanks and APC's guarded the perimeters of the logging operation.   
  
Besides the loggers, other civilians were in the mix. The logger's camp had woman and children, similar to the camps that followed armies in the middle ages. They did the washing, cooking and cleaning needed to support the effort. Any attacks against the camp would result in the loss of innocents. Derrick pointed out that some of the most important people involved in the European Crusades in the Holy Lands were the washer women.  
  
Those scouting reports launched the first arguments between the packs. Some Garou felt that if a few humans died in the effort, so what? They were just hairless monkeys aiding and abetting the enemy. Kill them all, let Gaia sort them out. Red Moon held the opposite view, but they were not the majority.   
  
Conn was one of the highest ranking Ahroun's present, and he tried to assert that rank. He was immediately challenged by an Ahroun of similar rank from the opposing view, Carlos "Wyrm Killer" DeSantos. As the one challenged, Conn got to pick the challenge, and of course he chose drinking! The other side assumed he'd pick a battle challenge and were caught unprepared. Carlos was a fearsome warrior, but as a Child of Gaia, did not drink to the extent the Fianna did. Conn had a case of Irish whiskey brought in (with Derrick's help) and made it a simple game of going shot for shot.   
  
It was no contest. They'd not even finished the first bottle before Carlos started to falter. Halfway through the second, Carlos fell flat on his back. Conn took the remainder of the bottle, chugged it, and then started shouting in Gaelic. No one could understand, but the jist of it was clear. Then he opened another and started in on it, which sort of brought an end to that planning session. Everyone else decided to help him finish the case.  
  
The next day, a surprisingly clear-headed and chipper Conn McNessa was elected war leader for the assembled packs. He decided that the best course of action would be to remove the heavy artillery the army was packing. The best way for them to do that was to enter the umbra and attack the Weaver spirits that inhabited them.   
  
Oz also offered another solution. "Sugar in the gas tanks."  
  
Derrick replied "Actually, that's sort of a myth. It does nothing to the engine; sugar is not soluble in gas or diesel. But it does plug up the fuel filter which would have to constantly be changed until the tank was replaced or cleaned. If you're going to risk approaching the vehicles however, I'd suggest something more permanent." Since this was not the Caern Derrick was allowed to be present.   
  
"And that be killing the Weaver spirits Oz. The canna operate without 'em." said Conn.   
  
Oz looked away in embarrassment.   
  
"I know you've na much experience at this, but dinna let that stop yea from speakin up Oz. Yea 'av faced more leeches then anyone 'ere, even if they be strange ones."  
  
The Packs that weren't familiar with Oz's story suddenly looked at him appraisingly. Fighting vampires was like big-game hunting to them.  
  
"So 'eres the plan..." Conn laid all out for them. Two packs would be held in reserve, the last ones to arrive was the easiest way to settle which ones, and the reserves would be rotated. The local sept would supply two Garou each for the foreign packs to act as guides. They all had a common language, Garou, so that was not a problem. Of course, Oz was still new to the Garou language, but it was coming to him fast.  
  
It was decided to time the attacks using the Spider Fetishes. By now Derrick had acquired enough so that each pack, besides Red Moon, had at least two each. They would move up to the perimeter in the physical world, step across the Gauntlet and attack the Weaver spirits. With the tanks and APC's out of action, they'd only have to face small arms afterwards. The attacks would begin tonight, under cover of darkness.  
  
While waiting for the time to go, they all rested as best they could, eating lightly. It wasn't good to go into battle with a heavy stomach.   
  
Oz approached John with a question. "I thought you told me that only older spirits had a spiritual presence in the Umbra. How will we see these Weaver spirits?  
  
"That's true what I said before, but it was sort of a blanket statement. What develops a spirit for a man-made object is the emotional attitude of the beings that either occupy or use it. The Weaver spirit is there, but it's not strong enough to manifest itself unless there is some emotional or spiritual investment in it. Like I said about buildings, an office building will have less spiritual investment then a church."  
  
"Now think about the emotional investment a human has towards a weapon of war such as a tank. Every human that's ever occupied it has had to treat it with some amount of fear and respect. Fear of either using it, or of being caught in it. I'm told those things can become death traps if you come up against the wrong foe. That has to make you think. Add to that, what if these things have actually been used to kill? Even the hardest soldiers have emotions towards that."  
  
"Only really new machines won't have built up enough of this to remain un-manifested. I'm sure these vehicles are US or Soviet surplus as well. Derrick tells me the models all date from Viet Nam era. It shouldn't be a problem to kill them. One thing you need to remember, these will not be inanimate objects in the Umbra. The Weaver spirits are capable of fighting back. Some may even be able to manifest weapons of similar design to their physical world counterparts, with equal potential for destruction."  
  
"There are things that I can do to them as well, but it usually unnerves the Garou when I do. Red Moon is used to it, but the other packs might object if I interfere with their war. I'll save some of my best tricks for when they are truly needed."  
  
Somehow Oz was not comforted by this discussion.  
  
At nightfall the packs headed out. The two locals with the Red Moon pack were Nelson Ribeiro and Alexandro Piearas. Oz was tempted to call him Xander, but held off. They led the group to their insertion point. Once they arrived, all could smell the cook fires of the camp from where they stood.  
  
They gathered around Conn. "Okay me boyos," Hope slapped him on the arm. "Let's have at it. We cross 'ere and go to the edge of the clearing, then wait for the signal."  
  
John peeked into the Umbra to see if all was clear. He didn't see anything, so as one they all crossed into the Umbra. Once there they moved to the edge of the clearing made by the clear cutting going on. The signal they got was not the one they expected though.  
  
As they stood waiting, Fomori began popping up from the ground all around them where they had laid in ambush. Fomori are humans or animals that have been turned to the Wyrm and draw power from it, and are the blood enemies of the Garou.   
  
The assembled Garou began to fight them immediately. Since they were intending to fight in the Umbra, they did not bring any technological weapons with them, only tooth, claw and fetish. Conn shifted into his Crinos form and began to lay into the enemy with what he called his "Irish Potato Masher". It was a huge mallet; the head was almost a foot in diameter and two feet long, made of oak and bound with iron bands. Conn said he'd bound a Ram spirit to it to give it that extra oomph. The handle was made of ash, and it protruded through the mallet's head to form a spike. Fomori began flying away from him, the hard way.  
  
The rest of the Red Moon pack and their two local guides also sprang into action. Aside from his Rite of Passage, this was Oz's first battle as a Garou while he was in control of his rage. He'd shifted into his Crinos battle form almost instantly and engaged one of the formori. It was humanoid, looking rather like a demon he and the Scooby gang had encountered once. Barbed spikes protruded from its fists and forearms.  
  
Oz outweighed it at the moment, and was a little stronger. He'd landed several good blows on the creature, but it was still coming. Then the fomori scored as well, ripping a gash down the side of Oz's face with one of the spikes. It hurt like hell, but it didn't slow Oz down.  
  
In the day or two they'd been waiting around for the offensive to begin, Krieg had been showing Oz some fighting moves, ones that work for Garou in their battle form. Oz saw an opening to use one now, a type of spinning kick. He caught the Wyrm spawn square in the chest and sent it flying.  
  
Lying on it's back, but still alive, Oz did a running jump and landed with one foot right on the things throat, crushing its windpipe and breaking its neck. Oz had no time to think about the brutality of his actions as two more fomori attacked him. One of them breathed a noxious green cloud at Oz, which he barely dodged. The other had bone spikes similar to the first. Oz was hard-pressed to deal with both of them, but he managed to wound one enough with he claws that it had trouble maneuvering. This let him concentrate on the second enough to kill it, and then go back after the first.  
  
Krieg had a weapon almost as formidable as Conn's, a fetish in the form of a bearded axe. Having both a pain spirit and a war spirit bound into it, just its touch can cause damage to an enemy. Nothing stood before him for long.   
  
John, Hope and the others were holding there own as well. Mostly thanks to Conn taking out so many of them to begin with. When the last of the fomori fell, Conn asked Derrick to report on the other packs.  
  
"Each got ambushed just like you, sorry but they did not show up on my scans. One of the other packs is still fighting, but the one to your left has exhausted their supply of bad buys too. None dead on our side, but lots of wounded."  
  
"Okay Derrick, signal the pack to our right to attack the Weaver spirits. We can still accomplish our goal."  
  
The Red Moon pack approached the Weaver spirit of an APC. It was an old Russian BTR-70, a wheeled vehicle with a turret mounted heavy-caliber machine gun. The Weaver Spirit version of it looked a lot like its physical counterpart, only more like a bug. Instead of wheels it had thick joined legs. Its turret was a kind of insectoidal head, with a long proboscis. It had sat idle all this time; rarely do Weaver spirits attack unless directly provoked.  
  
Well, the pack was about to provoke this one. Conn had mastered a gift called "Kangaroo Leap", which let him jump incredible distances. He took a running leap up into the air and landed right on top of the thing and began tearing into its shell.   
  
The rest of the pack tried to come up to its rear, but the thing began spinning around, trying to dislodge Conn. As it came around, it spat three globules from its probuscis which exploded when they landed.   
  
"Balefire!" Shouted Krieg, and the pack scattered to avoid the blasts. Still, John and Hope were caught by some of it when they zigged instead of zagging. As the Pack finally closed in on it and started to destroy the spirit, Derrick announced "Guys, you've got incoming. The other Weaver spirits are waking up and mobilizing".  
  
Just as he spoke, explosions began to ring around them. Looking up Conn saw Weaver tanks approaching, spitting out their own balefire. With the APC finally dead beneath him, Conn decided that was enough for today.  
  
"Derrick, sound the recall, everyone return home."  
  
It grated at Conn to retreat. But they would be back again.  
  
Back at the Battle Camp they surveyed the damage. The physical injuries were minor. No dead, a few broken bones, lots of smaller wounds and a few big ones like the gash in Oz's face. It ran from the bottom of his right ear, down and inch or so and then along his jaw line ending before his chin. It had stopped bleeding and was closing already. One benefit of transforming from Crinos to Human form that Oz didn't know before was it accelerated healing.  
  
The worst damage came from the corruption the Fomori were capable of spreading, their "taint". A few of the wounded Garou were now suffering from infections that did not respond to the normal healing gifts the Garou used. A few others had to fight off Bane spirits that the fomori attempted to pass on to them. Many cleansing rituals would be needed to scour the corruption away.  
  
Conn went over to examine Oz's wound, to determine if he'd suffered such corruption. "T'is a clean wound so ye 'il no need cleansing, but ach, that's gonna be a beauty of a scar laddie!"   
  
Not liking the idea Oz asked "It's gonna scar?"  
  
"Sure will," said Krieg "Unless we heal it. Hope or John can heal it for you and it won't scar, but then how will you tell its tale?"  
  
"It's tale?"  
  
"Of course! Battle scars are worn as badges of honor in the Garou society and every scar has a tale" said Krieg. "How it got there, who gave it to you etcetera. Get more then one Ahroun in one place and the conversation will almost always turn to who's got the worse scar. Heck you're a Galliard son; I'd start composing a song about it if I were you."  
  
And he did. He sang it the next night around the fire. But it was not just about him. He included parts of all the stories that were told of the battle that day, the first battle in the war for Amazonia. Everyone was moved, including the elder Galliards present.   
  
The day after the battle, the Army regulars were stumped when most of their vehicles wouldn't start. The mechanics could find nothing wrong with them, and began to strip them down. One of the tricks Derrick had up his sleeve was to intercept their requests for replacements so they never came. It slowed them down, but didn't stop them.  
  
After 5 months of running battles, the combined Packs managed to shut down the operation again, but not without cost. Of the eight packs that fought, two were wiped out entirely. Others lost at least one or more of their pack mates. Only Red Moon remained intact. At least if you could call it that.  
  
The local press deemed it a "Rebel Uprising" hence the presence of the army. They even declared victory when it was over, even though they'd lost.   
  
Oz learned a lot in those 5 months, not the least of which is the horror of war. Oh he'd fought along side Buffy before, but it was nothing like this. He didn't shy from it, but it hardened him. He now had a look in his eyes that Krieg called it the "1,000 Yard Stare".  
  
"Your eyes become somewhat empty or vague, because there's nothing you haven't seen. Utter cruelty, callous and vicious fighting; blood flowing like rain, children at the utmost risk placed in harm's way purposely to be used as bait or traps. You've seen soldiers and men, women and children, civilians murdered carelessly, all in the name of corruption. Despite the fact that we came here to fight the Wyrm, he revels in this. He knows that despite our victory, he's somehow corrupted you."  
  
"It happens to all of us Oz the first time out. I'd be more worried if I didn't see you like this. If not, that would have meant you enjoyed what we've been doing these last months. And the minute you enjoy killing is when you'll lose yourself to the Wyrm. The stare comes from your soul trying to compensate what you've done and seen against what you know it right and wrong."  
  
"What about Conn? I've seen him sing in battle."  
  
"That's not what it looked like Oz. First, Ahrouns are mostly misunderstood by others. They think we DO enjoy this. We don't. There is no enjoyment, no glory, no honor from killing things. The glory and honor comes from doing what you need to do to DEFEND those that need defending, your people, your homes and Gaia herself. What most people interpret as our lust for battle is really the Ahrouns way of preparing himself for the carnage that must be endured."  
  
"I don't know if you've noticed, but when Conn sings, doesn't your heart feel lighter?"  
  
Oz pondered a few seconds and nodded his head in the affirmative.  
  
"He knows that the reality of battle can quickly suck the life out of your soul. His songs bring inspiration to his fellows, buoying them against the carnage. Just seeing him inspires us all to continue on. That and his bravado are a defense mechanism, protecting his psyche."  
  
"Believe it or not Oz, you'll get used to the carnage; you can "normalize" it. The "stare" will go away, though you continue fighting. Just remember to keep self-analyzing yourself. When you start to enjoy this, it's time to back away. That's the difference between a soldier and a wanton killer."

The pack had by now made it's way back to the warehouse in Rio. Conn decided it was "Miller Time". Time to unwind and decide their next move. He also officially handed leadership of the pack back to Hope. During times of War, Conn was the leader, but he knew when it was time to yield back to a cooler head.  
  
Hope addressed the pack. "I think we could all use a vacation. Disney is out after our last visit there." she said smiling.  
  
The pack began to laugh except for Conn and Oz. Conn shouted. "The "It's a Small World" ride is Wyrm tainted I tell you!"  
  
"We know Conn, we know. Any other suggestions?"  
  
"How about Cabo?" posed Derrick. "I can get us a nice secluded cabin or three on the beach somewhere. A few weeks of fun in the sun, drinks by the pool. The Cult of Ecstasy has a chantry there that I can safely open a gate to. And do those C of Xer's know how to release tension! From there we can head up to Sunnydale and finally get to the bottom of that mystery."  
  
Wow, Sunnydale. Oz had almost forgotten all about it! Five months and he'd never let Willow know where he was. Crap. And the Dingos! They probably thought he'd abandoned them, which he sorta did. Double Crap.  
  
"Any objections to Derrick's plan?" Hope asked. Silence. "No, then Cabo it is!" Cheers from all around.  
  
"Oh, there is one other thing we've been neglecting in all this time." Hope continued. "Oz, we never made it official, but I think I speak for all of us when I say "Welcome to the Red Moon pack!", that is if that's what you want…"  
  
Oz didn't hesitate. "Of course. I'm honored. Thanks, this means a lot guys." He received a round of applause.   
  
Hope continued. "There is just one formality you have to undergo Oz." With that, Conn dumped a huge bucket of beer over Oz's head.  
  
The room broke out with laughter again. "Gee thanks Conn. Didn't you know that this was Alcohol abuse?"  
  
"Don't you worry laddie, there be plenty more where this came from! Time to get pissed!" Which they all proceeded to do.  
  
The two weeks in Cabo were an eternity to Oz. One could only take so much fun in the sun with a burden weighting on your soul. He was both looking forward to and dreading returning to Sunnydale, but he knew he had to. The anticipation was making it hard to relax. His restlessness was obvious.  
  
"I think our Young Turk here is chomping at the bit to head north" observed John over breakfast one morning.  
  
Krieg replied "Actually I think the novelty of doing nothing is starting to wear off. Maybe two weeks of R&R is enough"   
  
"Aye" Conn agreed with him.   
  
"What about you the rest of you?" queried Hope. John said he agreed with the Ahrouns.  
  
Derrick replied "I've had subroutines and search bots working on gathering info related to Sunnydale since we left. I've also been working on several theories in my own mind to try and explain some of the paradoxes involved here. I'm anxious to go to the source to try and prove them out."  
  
"Oz?"  
  
"I need to reconnect with the Scooby gang. One problem is; what can I tell them about me now without endangering the Veil?" Maybe they'd say we couldn't go and relieve him of the problem.  
  
Derrick spoke up again. "I've been working on that too Oz. From what I can tell, all of the members of your Scooby gang are either already Awakened individuals or are on the verge of it. Buffy certainly is. I almost blinded myself when I peeked at her avatar."  
  
"You peeked at Buffy? Dude, you better not let her find out. She'll rip you a new one, literally!"  
  
"Relax kid, it's not like I looked at her while she was in the shower. I sent a probe through the Web to look at each of them. It actually functions through their TV sets. If people knew those things could work in more then one direction, they'd freak!"  
  
"Your Willow by the way is more then just a Wiccan. She's an Awakening mage. The right stimulus will push her over the edge. I'd actually like to be there to guide her. I'm positive she'll make a great VA. I've also seen her in the presence of another cute girl who appears to be on the verge of awakening."  
  
"Rupert Giles is another Hedge Mage. I didn't see any signs of his awakening, and given his age I doubt it will happen. He is however from what I can tell, well versed in the occult."  
  
"Cordelia Chase is in LA still, but she has Awakened as well. I don't think she's a mage, but some type of benevolent spirit inhabits her now. Her ex-boyfriend Xander is inhabited by not one but TWO spirit forms. One is defiantly Hyena."  
  
The pack looks up at that. "A hyena spirit can be powerful Oz" John informs him. "If your friend can learn to tap into it, he'd become a force to recon with."  
  
"That's what I figured" continued Derrick. "But get this; the second spirit seems to be a Shade of some kind. A "Shade" Oz is essentially the soul of a dead person that did not pass on to the next life. I have no idea how these two supernatural entities are affecting Xander, if at all."  
  
"I'm not sure about the Hyena. I seem to remember Xander telling me the story of a problem at the zoo a few years ago. The Shade you're talking about though would be that of a Vietnam era US soldier. It was before my time with the gang, but one year at Halloween, a guy name Ethan Raines made everyone in Sunnydale turn into the costumes they were wearing. Willow became a ghost, Buffy a noblewoman from the 1700's, and Xander became soldier guy. He was wearing a set of fatigues he got from an Army-Navy store. We think it was worn by an actual Vietnam vet. He can channel the guy every once in a while, but usually not on purpose."  
  
Hope patted him on the shoulder. "So there you go Oz. The Veil is to keep our existence from "normal" humans, sleepers as Derrick calls them. It seems your friends are far from that." Hope looked over at Derrick. "So how do we get there?"  
  
"First I recommend we keep a low profile. There may be powers involved here that might not like our presence. There are a few chantries in LA, and I can only assume there is a Glass Walker and Bone Gnawer caern as well. I don't think we should use any of them. The best approach would be the long way. It's about 1800 miles from here to LA. I'll charter us a plane and we fly up."  
  
They all looked at Conn. The problem with the Pack using Air Transport is that airplanes were not designed with a 7 foot 500 pound person in mind. Plus he hated the things.  
  
"There be no other way?" he pleaded.  
  
"Not without letting someone else know we've arrived. We could drive, but its 1800 miles or more. Most of which would be on Mexican roads. Even if we drove straight though it would mean more than 24 hours on the road, as apposed to 3 hours on a plane. Relax. I'll see if I can get as a cargo plane with some seating. You can stretch out in the back."  
  
"Okay, but I reserve the right to complain!"

---------------------------------------------------

TBC  
  



	13. Chapter 12 Home Again Home Again Jiggit...

Home Again, Home Again Jiggity Jig 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Their flight landed in LAX two days later at about 6PM. The only gear they'd taken with them was their clothes and personal weapons. Derrick had already magically transported the heavier stuff back to Seattle.

They didn't pull into a terminal like a commercial flight. The plane taxied over to a hanger, and they used those old style stair ramps to de-plane. Sitting there in the hanger waiting for them was the Pack's van and Conn and Krieg's bikes which they'd left behind at the Caern in Seattle.

"How'd these get here?" Asked Conn.

"Oh that was simple" said Derrick. "I Called JYD and he arranged for some of your Sept mates to drive them back to the Garage before we even left for Rio. I then had JYD and a few of his friends bring them over to SeaTac yesterday and flew them down here."

Oz went over to Derrick. "Dude, I don't want to pry but, where do you get all this cash?"

"Oz, I plead the 5th. Let's just say the some of my benefactors are no longer in a position to miss the money, or would be willing to report it. By the way, I left your van at the Garage in Seattle. I didn't think we'd need two, and ours had more seats."

"Cool."

Hope began to prod them. "Okay everyone saddle up. Next stop, Sunnydale."

They didn't make it far. They encountered the famous LA traffic as soon as they left the Airport. What should have been an hour to hour and a half trip took three. So it was around 9:30PM when they passed the Welcome to Sunnydale sign.

Oz announced, "Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the Hellmouth."

John pulled the van over into the Sunnydale Motor Inn parking lot. Oz had suggested they get rooms first, as the Inn closed their office around 10. After paying for their rooms and dropping off their stuff, they gathered in Hope's room. 

"How do you want to do this Oz? Wait until tomorrow or go see your friends now?"

"I don't think I could sleep tonight waiting for tomorrow. I know this is going to be traumatic, but I want to get it over with. I've always been a "rip the band-aid off" kinda guy."

"Okay, so do we just go to one of their houses, or do we call first?" asked John.

"I think we should find Buffy first. I don't want to spring in on Willow. This time of night she probably wouldn't be in her dorm room. She'll be at a Cemetery."

"A Cemetery?" asked Krieg. "Sounds like my kinda girl. So where to."

"That's the problem; there are 12 cemeteries in Sunnydale."

"12!" The pack responded in unison.

"Yup. Restfields is closest to the UC dorm. We might as well start there. I'll drive."

The pack mounted up and headed out on their way. As they approached Restfields, Derrick took out his palmtop and began keying things in with the stylus.

"Let me see if I can make this easier... Okay, I've got an overhead of the cemetery and I scan four warm bodies in the place. Three are about 50 yards ahead of another judging by their direction of travel."

"Yeah. The one following would be Buffy. We'd often walk ahead of her as bait while she followed in the shadows."

Oz pulled the van over outside the front entrance to the cemetery, Conn and Krieg pulled their bikes up along side. They all gathered together.

Hope came up along side Oz. "Okay Oz, this is still your call."

"I think it would be best if I approached Buffy alone first. If all of us come up she'll go into Slayer mode." Looking at the map on Derrick's computer and pointing, "You guys follow me up to here and wait. I'll signal after its okay to join us. Oh, bring your weapons. This is the Hellmouth and anything can happen at anytime."

Most of them were already carrying the few weapons they used. They checked to make sure everything was unencumbered. Conn reached into the back of the van and brought out his Potato Masher. 

They followed Oz in through the gates, which were unlocked. Most cemetery owners decided to leave it that way. Between the Vamps and Buffy, the gate locks did not last long and it was too expensive to keep repairing them. At the point Oz had indicated before, he motioned for them to wait. Oz picked up Buffy's scent and followed it.

Buffy was starting to get bored. This was their second time around the place and nothing. Between her activities and Riley's group, hunting was getting thin. It was then that she sensed someone or something behind her. Crap, she just jinxed it didn't she? Oh well.

She turned to face whatever it was. "Whoever you are, let's make this quick. I've got a midterm tomorrow." A single being emerged from the shadows.

"Hey Buff."

"Oz?!" Buffy was elated and worried at the same time. Elated that her friend was alive and well, and worried given their last encounter. She had had to stop him from killing Willow. 

"Oz where have you been! Willow was worried sick about you!"

"I know, I should have stayed in better contact. As to where I've been, that's a long story Buffy. One best told indoors and only once in front of the whole gang. Let's just say for now that I ran into some people who showed me how to control my little monthly problem."

"Okay, let's finish up this patrol and we can head back to Giles's apartment."

"How's Willow?"

"Um, yeah, Willow. She's Okay, but some things have changed since you left…"

Buffy never got to finish her sentence. Out of the dark leaped a large demon, tackling Buffy. She rolled with it, threw it off and came up standing. As she did so, Buffy and Oz heard a female scream in the direction Buffy was heading.

"Go help Willow Oz, I've got this one!" Oz took off running, transforming as he went, unseen by Buffy.

The Red Moon pack heard the scream as well. They leaped into action. Conn shouted as they ran. "Krieg, John and Hope, ye three go to the ones on point. I'll find Buffy an Oz."

Derrick ran too, back to the Van where he wouldn't be exposed. We'll he didn't exactly run as much as appear there. After throwing himself inside and closing the door, He got his palmtop out and began rapidly keying things into it. 

Willow, Tara and Xander were strolling through the cemetery. Willow and Tara were hand in hand. "You know, I'm glad you two decided to hook up. It's brought my fantasy material to a whole new level."

"Xander!" Willow cried, "You can be such a pig sometimes. What would Anya say?"

"She'd probably want to know how good your orgasms were."

That stream of thought was interrupted when the trio was jumped from behind. Willow screamed as she struggled with her opponent, a vampire. All three had managed to throw off their attackers as well and stood to face them. A dozen vamps. Not good.

Willow and Tara looked at each other and joined hands. One of the Vamps said, "Aw, isn't that cute." Not knowing that the pair had already discovered how to increase the power of their spells by linking together.

They didn't get that chance though. As the vamps closed on them, a blur of fur charged in and ripped the head off of the vamp who spoke. This stunned human and vampire alike. Xander and Willow, having seen the beast before both exclaimed "Oz?" 

Oz's only reply was a blood-curdling howl before he let into the vamps. As the pair watched the werewolf fight, Xander said, "I might be nuts, but I'd swear that Oz was using some kinda Kung-Fu." To their further astonishment, three more werewolves joined the fray!

Unfortunately, there were more then enough vamps to keep the wolves busy. That left a few vamps free to make their way over to Xander and the girls, to begin menacing them. They backed away; Xander putting himself in front of the girls. 

Buffy and the demon had already gone a few rounds. _"This guy is WAY strong. I'm gonna have a few bruises in the morning."_ Buffy said to herself. She ducked a roundhouse from the creature, delivered a few jabs of her own, but then got caught by a kick that sent her flying.

The creature advanced on her slowly as she rose. It was then that Buffy caught a glimpse of someone, or something coming up behind the demon. It looked human, but was at least 7 feet tall if not taller. Long red hear and a red beard, bare chested, and get this! Wearing a Kilt! It, he, also had a huge grin on his face. In one hand it was unlimbering a large hammer. With the other, he held his index finger up to his mouth in the universal "keep quiet" symbol.

Thinking she knew what was about to happen, Buffy looked at the demon. "Oh man, is this gonna hurt."

"You bet your sweet ass it is bitch!"

"Oyi! Tha' be no way ta talk to a lady!" shouted Conn.

The demon spun, only to see the giant swinging his hammer right at his head. BAM! The impact caved in the demons skull, and knocked him a few yards to the left as well. 

The giant approached Buffy, who despite the assist remained defensive. He saluted her with his hammer. "Top o' the evenin to ya me wee bonny lass! The names Conn MacNessa, at your service." He bowed to her with a flourish. " I'm assuming ye be Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

"Um yeah, but how did you know that?" she replied in astonishment.

"I'm a friend of Oz's. E's told us about ye and yur wonderful Dale here."

"Us?"

"Yes, well, perhaps we should join them before they keep all the fun for themselves!" That was when they both heard gunfire.

Buffy took off running, Conn followed.

As Xander and the girls backed up away from the three vamps, he heard someone talking to him. "_Xander, bring up your hand, point it out at the vamp like a gun and say Bang!"_

"Huh? What?"

_"Crap I knew I'd confuse the kid_" Derrick said to himself. He switched tactics. _"Listen up soldier, bring up your hand, point it out at the vamp like a gun and say Bang! That's an order!"_

That galvanized Xander. What really stunned him was that as he said BANG, he heard an incredibly loud gun shot and a giant hole got blown into the vamps chest! It of course went poof a second later.

Xander brought his hand up and stared at it, incredulously. "Xander, what did you do!" exclaimed Willow.

"I don't know, but it was way cool!"

There were two more vamps that'd been standing with the one Xander shot. They were looking at him warily. Xander pointed his "gun" at another one and said "Bang?" This time Xander thought he saw something leave his hand, he actually felt a wave of heat, and blow an equally large size hole in the vamps chest before it dusted.

The third ran… Right into the waiting stake of the Slayer.

The rest of the fight was over as well. These vamps had no experience fighting werewolves, they didn't stand a chance.

As the dust settled, Buffy came to stand next to Willow and Tara. She was followed by Conn, who drew stares from the pair of Witches. Xander was preoccupied with his high-caliber finger. After a moment, Willow exclaimed "Buffy, that's Oz!" 

"I know, I ran into him earlier."

Xander shook his head to clear it and spoke up. "What's wrong with this picture? We are standing here with not just one but four werewolves, along with a red-haired giant, and none of them are attacking us?"

The Oz wolf looked around at his Pack mates, and then smacked himself in the head. Not a gesture you'd expect to see from a werewolf. He moved to stand in front of Willow. Tara quickly drew Willow in closer to her. That made Oz pause a moment. He sniffed the air. He could smell each upon the other. So that's what Buffy meant. _"Well, lets' get on with this."_ He said to himself.

Oz willed himself back into human form. The rest of his pack followed suit. Willow looked up, at the crescent moon in the sky. "How?" She asked.

"It's a long story. Let's all go someplace where we can talk." It was then that another demon came crashing in. The same type as the one Buffy and Conn fought earlier, but larger.

Oz, Krieg, John and Hope went Crinos in a flash, but Conn shouted "Oyi e's mine! You lot 'ave 'ad all the fun tonight!" Conveniently forgetting about the demon he'd just walloped.

Dropping his hammer, Conn took a few running steps, crouched and leapt high in the air. Too high to be done unaided, especially for one his size. In mid air he did a summersault, transforming in mid tumble. 2,300 pounds of fur and claws landed in front of the demon and howled in its face.

If it was possible to see abject terror in the face of a demon, you could see it now. The demon began to turn, presumably to run, but it never made it. Conn sunk his claws into the thing's back, grabbing it by the spine. He then proceeded to beat it into the ground, using it's spine as a handle.

Through their ear fetish, the Red Moon pack heard, "Sorry guys, I had to recalibrate my sensors for the Undead. I think Conn's new chew toy is the last of them. I'll keep scanning." The remainder of the pack transformed back to human.

Krieg walked over to Conn. "I think its dead now".

Conn stopped swinging the demon around. He looked over at the humans, who all were staring at him. Shrugging his shoulders, he dropped the demons body, and transformed back to human. "Sorry, I got a wee bit carried away."

"Okay, now I'm officially wigged!" Stated Buffy. "Who the hell are you guys and what's going on?!"

Oz stepped forward. "Sorry Buffy, not my best idea of an introduction. These people are my Pack mates, werewolves like me. The big guy is Conn, and then we have Hope, Krieg, and John. Derrick is back at the van I suppose."

"Pack mates?"

"Yeah, look I'll tell you the whole story, just can we do it someplace we won't get jumped mid-sentence? Giles will probably want to hear this too."

"Okay. Giles will freak, but let's go to his place. Mom is asleep by now and I don't want to wake her."

"Okay, meet you there."

---------------------------------------------------------

TBC


	14. Chapter 13 Red Moon Meets the Scooby Ga...

Red Moon Meets the Scooby Gang 

-------------------------------------------  
Giles was just pouring himself a tea when the doorbell rang. "Damn, always when I'm having a cuppa."  
  
He went to the door, stake in one hand and looked through the peephole. He saw Buffy and Xander, along with a number of others he could not make out in the peephole's fisheye distortion. Satisfied that is was not a big bad, he opened the door.  
  
"Buffy. Done with patrol already? And who are your friends?"  
  
"That, Giles, is what we're here to find out." Buffy, Xander, Willow and Tara entered, followed by Oz."  
  
"Oz, you've returned!"  
  
"Yup, these people are my new friends." Giles made a point of not inviting them in. They entered anyway, being forewarned on the trip over. As they entered Oz introduced them. Conn came in last of course, and had to duck to get through the door way.   
  
"Well make yourselves at home" Giles said, unable to hide his distress. "Tea anyone?"  
  
Hope came up to him, "Mr. Giles, why don't you let me handle the refreshments. You're going to want to be a part of this conversation."  
  
"Yes, quite. Thank you miss…"  
  
"Hope Wayland, Mr. Giles. You go have a seat; I can find my own way to the kitchen." Hope proceeded to the kitchen, Derrick followed her.  
  
Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. It was going to be one of those nights.  
  
With everyone assembled, Oz began.  
  
"First let me apologize to everyone for the way I left, and for not contacting anyone while I was gone. The last few months have been a roller coaster ride for me. After the incident with Veruca, I felt I was a danger to everyone, especially you, Willow. I left to discover a way to control what I was. And boy did I." Chuckles from the pack.  
  
"First let me state that what I'm about to say is sorta confidential. I can tell you not only because I still consider you friends, but because you are all warriors for the Light." Looking directly at Giles, he continued "I'd like it if none of this was written down or repeated to anyone outside this room. Peoples lives could be at stake."  
  
"What, did you go to work for the CIA?" quipped Xander.  
  
"No, but they are one of the groups my friends and I want not to notice us. First let me state that just about everything you know about werewolves is wrong."  
  
Giles interjected, "Excuse me Oz, but I have extensive books on the subject and…"   
  
"I'm sorry Giles. Most of the books you have are based on legends of people who've have little contact with the real thing. That or Hollywood. There are a few places where fact and fiction intersect, but only a few. Also a lot of the books you've read have been "edited" on purpose to hide the truth, for our protection."  
  
"I guess the best place to start is from the beginning. When I left that morning, I had no idea where I was going…" Oz proceeded to tell them of his trip north, meeting the Red Moon pack and his Rite of Passage. As he spoke, Hope and Derrick came out with refreshments for everyone. Giles was so fascinated by Oz's stories that it didn't occur to him that things were being served that were not in his cupboard. Derrick had gone shopping and come back, without using the front door.  
  
Willow was obviously trying to control her emotions. "But that only amounts to about a week or so Oz, where were you the rest of the time? Why couldn't you write or call?"  
  
"South America." Krieg answered for him. "While Oz was undergoing his introduction to the Garou world, we were busy checking up on the story he told us about this place. What we found out was disturbing."  
  
Xander put his two-cents in again. "That sums up the Hellmouth; disturbing."  
  
"We were all set to come down here when we got another mission, one we felt more pressing than coming here. We dragged Oz with us down to Brazil to help stop some of the destruction of the rain forest. What was supposed to take a few weeks turned into a 5-month running battle."  
  
"Good God!" Exclaimed Giles. "The rebel insurrection?"  
  
Now Conn spoke up. "That were no rebels, t'was The Red Moon Pack! And about 7 other packs. The Wyrm were clear cutting the rain forest again. Only this time Government soldiers were defending the Formori demons what were doing the job. Bloody mess that was."  
  
"And you've been there all this time?" Buffy asked Oz.  
  
"Yup. We took 2 weeks R&R in Mexico, and then came straight here. Didn't expect to get into a fight right away, but that's the Hellmouth for you."  
  
"So let me get this straight" started Giles. "You and your friends here are from a race of beings called "Garou". Your condition was not brought on by your cousin Jordy biting you, and he is most likely a Garou as well. The Garou fancy themselves some type of "Eco Warriors" bent on protecting the earth from the ravages of the Weaver and the Wyrm."  
  
Derrick felt the need to clear part of the statement. "So far right on the money, except that I'm one hundred percent Human. I always feel the need to point that out."  
  
"Yes, sorry. The transformation into your werewolf battle form during the full moon Oz was a psychological problem, cleared up after you went on a vision quest of sorts. Now you can change at any time?"  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Can I see it now?"  
  
The Pack looked at each other. They still had their spider fetishes on, so Oz asked them, "_Any objections?_" No one responded negatively. Krieg added, "_I don't think we'll all fit in the room though with us in Crinos. Conn would probably fall through the floor!_"  
  
"I don't see why not, but just me. There wouldn't be enough room if we all did, and Conn weighs over one ton in that form. Xander and the girls have already seen them anyway."  
  
Oz moved into the center of the room. Without great need like a call to battle, the change takes a few seconds. The Scooby gang watched as he transformed through the caveman-like Glabro form to the full Crinos battle form. He looked at his friends. They'd already seen him, but still had a look of shock on their faces. To lighten the mood, Oz did a little jig Conn was teaching them. It worked.  
  
Laughing Xander said, "I don't think you should quit your day job yet Oz."  
  
All this time he'd not spoken to Willow. She was on a couch, Tara tucked in next to her. Looking at her he reverted to human form.  
  
"Willow. I want you to understand that I had no preconceptions about what to expect when I returned. I know you tried to hex me and Veruca," a look of astonishment on her face, and denial, "but that's cool. You didn't despite the fact that it was nothing less then what we deserved."  
  
"Let me stop brood boy for a moment." Hope interjected. "He didn't mention in his previous recap that Veruca was a type of Garou that is in league with the Wyrm, a Black Spiral Dancer. We believe she was using a type of magic to lure Oz away from you, in order to "recruit" him for lack of a better term. That's one thing that brought us here."  
  
Willow started to cry. Guilt at what she almost did and now guilt for not waiting for him. Tara looked at her, unsure of what to do.  
  
"Listen Willow. Despite what Veruca did, I was the one who left; I broke contact, not you. I didn't know what to expect when I came back, but I didn't return to come between you and someone else. I don't even know if I'm staying here past the next couple of days. You moved on, I can accept that. If we can still be friends, I'd like that. Just remember that I'll always love you. No matter what."  
  
Looking at Tara he said, "Take care of her." And he walked out the front door. Willow ran crying upstairs to Giles's bedroom. Tara ran after her.  
  
Buffy cursed under her breath. "Well isn't that just great. I don't know whether to hug him or slug him."   
  
Hope stood up. "It's late. Those two have emotions to deal with. We all could use some rest, but there are lot's of things we need to discuss besides the teen melodrama. I suggest we meet again tomorrow. Any suggestions as to where?"  
  
"Casa Summers has more room. Tomorrow is Friday, and I've a barbeque out back. We can make a "Welcome Back Oz" party out of it. Say 5:30?"  
  
"Great, we'll bring the steaks since we're intruding. See you then!" The rest of the pack said their thank you's for Giles hospitality and left.  
  
"A polite group at least" remarked Giles.  
  
Xander replied. "Polite werewolves, isn't that like an Oxymoron?"   
  
"I'm going to check on Willow. Giles, in the morning can you try to verify their story? It's not that I don't trust Oz, but I'd like to know who we're dealing with."  
  
"Yes, yes of course."  
  
"Xander, Oz mentioned they were also a rock band. See if you can run that down."  
  
"Aye Aye Skipper!"  
  
After a little coaxing, Tara got Willow to go back to the dorm. Willow went to her room and Tara to hers. Willow cried herself to sleep. Tara paced for more then an hour not knowing what to do with herself. She picked up the phone several times meaning to call Willow, always putting the phone back down. She eventually settled into her bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

TBC  
  



	15. Chapter 14 Comparing Notes

Authors Notes 

Thanks again to Darklight and Syltherin Groupie for the great reviews! For those of you who are wondering, while I'm trying to stay with the timeline, Faith never woke up from her coma so did not do the whole body switching thing in "This Years Girl" and Buffy was not captured by the Watchers in "Who Are You". This part of the story is picking up somewhere around "Goodbye Iowa" and "Yoko Factor" and replaces most of it's events.

It's about 2/3's of the way through season 4 so Dawn does not exist yet, but she will!

--------------------------------------------------

Comparing Notes 

------------------------------------------------------

After Tara woke up, she cleaned herself up and went over to Willow & Buffy's room, knocking quietly. Buffy opened the door. "I was just heading out for a run. She's still in bed. You guys take your time; I'll shower in the gym and then head to Revello Drive after classes. Make sure you two show up there, 5:30 or so, we're having a little party. Oz and his new friends will be there too." Giving Tara a quick hug, Buffy ran off.   
  
Tara entered the room. Willow was curled up in bed. Tara sat on the side of the bed, and Willow stirred, and looked up at Tara. Tara smiled and said "Hey."  
  
"Hey back. Listen, about last night…"   
  
"Whatever, you know, happens? I'll still be here. I mean, I'll still be your friend."  
  
"Of course we'll be friends. That's not even a question!"  
  
"But I'm saying, I know what Oz means to you..."  
  
"How can you, when I'm not even sure? I mean, I know what he meant to me. But he left. And everything changed. I changed. And then we..."  
  
Tara sees how upset Willow's getting. "It's okay."  
  
"It's not okay. I mean, Tara, the time we spend together is..." Willow shakes her head. "Can't quite say it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I don't know. It's just, life is starting to get so good again, and you're a big part of that. And here comes the thing I wanted most of all. And I don't know what to do. I want to know. But I don't.   
  
Tara put a hand on Willow's cheek, quieting her. "Do what makes you h-happy." And she gets up to leave. Willow intercepts her and places both hands on her shoulders.  
  
"You make me happy Tara McClay. Don't ever forget it!" Willow brings her into an embrace. Pulling back a little Willow kissed her. "I love you, Tara McClay, you are what makes me happy.  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Yes, and I feel horrible about everything I put you through. I'm gonna make it up, too. Starting right now."   
  
"Right now? What about class?"  
  
"Class can wait, you can't."  
  
They melted into each other's arms.  
  
----- The Pack's Hotel -------

It took Oz a long time to find sleep. The whole evening's scenario kept replaying in his head. He came very close to try and "fight" for her, but he knew that would only end with more heartache all around. So, he was going to be the magnanimous one and not the schmuck. Yea Oz. It still sucked.  
  
Sleep finally found him, but when he awoke the next morning, he was still depressed about loosing Willow. There were two usual courses for this condition. "Get Pissed" as Conn would probably suggest, or move on and try to forget. Getting drunk was never Oz's thing, so that was out. Moving on would take time.  
  
He got up, showered and dressed then went over to Hope's room. The rest of the pack was already there. Conn had a hot plate out and was making eggs for everyone. Oz grabbed a plate and sat down.  
  
Hope was sitting up on her bed, her back against the headboard. "So any suggestions about what to do first today?" she asked.  
  
"Yup," said John. "I think we need to scout this place out from the Umbra. The Scooby gang probably knows most of the nooks and cranny's from the physical world, but they've never looked on the Other side."  
  
"As good a place to start as any. Let's clean up and then go find some wooded area to start at. The Gauntlet would probably be too thick elsewhere."  
  
Derrick had already provided maps of the area with several different views. One showed all the municipal areas including schools and parks. There was a large wooded area located conveniently near the Inn, so they didn't need to drive over.  
  
"Okay, you kids go have fun" Derrick announced. "I'm going digital. I need to assemble and collate all the info I've got so far for tonight's meeting. Call me if you need me!" With that, Derrick pulled out his palmtop, keyed in a few things and disappeared in a haze of pixels.   
  
Once in the woods, both John and Hope transformed into their Lupus-full wolf forms. Their sense of smell was at it's highest in that form. The pack did a circuit around the woods to see if any humans were present, or perhaps something more sinister. Finding nothing the pack made its way to the center of the woods. John and Hope transformed again, stopping when they were in Crinos. Oz, Krieg and Conn went Crinos as well. They'd decided that given that this was the Hellmouth, better be prepared for the worst.  
  
As the Pack's Theurge, John brought them all across the Gauntlet into the Umbra. In the area they selected to cross, an area still close to the Wyld, things were what would be considered "normal" for the Umbra. They saw the spirits of the trees around them. Here the trees were taller, greener. Once again they made a circuit around the area and found nothing. They left the area and headed in the direction where the Hellmouth was supposed to be located.  
  
The spirits of the Wyld soon gave way to the Weaver spirits. The Umbra is a reflection of the physical world, but only those things with a strong spiritual presence are reflected. New buildings are non-existent in the Umbra. In fact where a skyscraper might stand in the physical world, you would see a church in the umbra, which resided in that location for decades before the modern building.   
  
So the umbral version of Sunnydale, at least in this section was a relatively open plain. Dull, dreary, completely uninviting. Nothing lurking about though, which was good. There were native denizens to the Umbra, collectively known as the "Umbrood". For the most part they were not friendly.  
  
When a "newer" building could be seen in the umbra, it was usually a collection of webs, woven by Weaver Pattern Spiders. Where the tree spirits the pack could see represented the dynamic vitality of life, Pattern Spider webs represented the static reality of the Weaver.  
  
"Which way to the old high school Oz?" Hope asked.  
  
Oz was a little confused, having never looked at Sunnydale this way before. After taking a few moments to get his bearings, he pointed roughly south "That way." The Pack loped off in that direction.  
  
They'd walked for about 30 minutes when they saw something up ahead in the "sky". A dark swirling cloud. A small maelstrom. As they approached, they saw what could only be the old high school, sitting below the maelstrom.  
  
The spiritual version of the school was a twisted representation of what it might have looked like before its physical being was destroyed. The roof was collapsed in the middle, some of the walls caved in, representing the violence of the schools destruction. And it pulsated. It seemed as if the thing were a wounded beast, gasping its last ragged breaths. And from the center of it all, a red lava-like glow.  
  
The pack looked at each other. "Oz, from what you've said before, the Hellmouth was actually below the school right?" asked Hope.  
  
"Yup."  
  
"Anyone care to go in?"  
  
There were no takers. "Not without good cause" answered Krieg. "No telling what we might wake up in there."  
  
That's when John noticed something moving out of the corner of his eye. Trying not to react, he casually shifted his gaze. He saw what could only be Bane spirits crawling out of the school. "Guy's we've got company…"  
  
Shook from their twisted reverie from looking at the school, the pack set themselves for an attack. They didn't have to wait long. About 20 of the Banes streamed out of the openings and cracks of the school. They looked like oversized rats, really oversized; each perhaps the size of a normal human, but running on all fours. Each sported long sets of claws on all four paws, and extended fang-like canines.   
  
Conn did not wait for them to come to him; he sprang forward taking the fight to them, singing his song of inspiration as he went. He had to bend down to attack the first few and he dispatched them quickly, but some began to leap up at him. Conn slashed his claws at them in mid-air. One got past and began to claw and bite at Conn's neck.  
  
The rest of the pack did not have to bend so far to reach them, but the sheer numbers were giving them problems as well. The banes attempted to swarm all over them, climbing on top of each other to find a target.   
  
Still, the banes were no match for battle hardened Garou, and though each of the pack suffered some wounds, they decimated the swarm of Banes in less then 3 minutes. Three minutes is a long time in battle though, enough time for the enemy to call reinforcements. As the pack caught their breath, they could see other things begin to stir in the ruins. Lots of things.  
  
"Not that I'm afraid, but perhaps it would be better to come back another day" observed John.  
  
"Ditto" said Oz.  
  
Krieg agreed, "Time for a strategic withdrawal".  
  
"Aye, this were a scouting mission, t'were not supposed to be a battle" Conn seconded.  
  
The pack turned as one, shifted to lupus and headed off away from the Hellmouth. Looking back as they went, they did not see anything give chase. Arriving in the woods where they started, they stopped for a rest.  
  
"Okay, next bright idea" said Krieg.  
  
"Hey at least now we know some of what's there" sited Hope. "Next time we're in the neighborhood we'll bring a little more firepower."  
  
"I think scouting is still on the agenda for today" continued Hope. "Let's get back Across and take the van over to UC Sunnydale. There is a tract of woods out behind it as well. We'll sniff around there for a while."  
  
The pack nodded in agreement and stood, changing to their human forms. John "peeked" through the Gauntlet to make sure there were no surprises waiting for them. Confirming there were none, he led the rest of the pack through.

-------- 

After leaving the gym, Buffy called her mom at work, to let her know about having company tonight. Joyce was not thrilled at the last minute notification, but she didn't refuse.  
  
Classes were nothing new. Mostly a fight to stay awake. After school was over, she headed to Revello drive to make sure the place was clean enough for company. At around 5pm, the doorbell rang.  
  
Buffy opened the door to find Willow and Tara, hand in hand, looking quite happy with themselves. "I take it that decisions were made and life is good?"   
  
The pair entered. Cheerfully Willow announced "Yup, I'm Gay and in love!" She gave Tara a peck on the cheek, which caused her to blush.   
  
"Great! I'm happy for the both of you, I really am. But, what about the Oz thing?"  
  
Willow looked uncomfortable at that. "I still kinda love Oz, Buffy. He was my first real boyfriend, not counting Xander. I still love him and want him in my life, but in a friend sorta way, like how I love you."  
  
That warranted a group hug. "Thanks Will, I love you too!" Buffy thought for a moment that it might be weird to hug a lesbian, let alone two, but it wasn't.  
  
After the moment passed "Okay you two, I could use some help out back." It was still only March, but being Southern California, the weather was perfect for an outdoor barbeque. The three girls set to work setting up the tables when the doorbell rang again. Buffy went to answer it and found Xander, Anya and Giles. As they were coming in, the Pack's van and bike riding pair pulled up in front of the house. They began unloading grocery bags from the van and carried them up to the door.   
  
"Hello everyone!" Buffy pulled Oz aside as the others entered.  
  
"Look Oz, I like you. I thought you and Willow were great together. But she's my best friend in the whole world. She's made her choice, I expect you to abide by it. If you do anything to hurt her, I might have to hurt you."  
  
Knowing what choice Buffy was referring to, Oz tried to reassure Buffy. "Hey that's cool, I wouldn't have expected less. Don't worry. It still hurts, but she was mine to loose all along, and I did."  
  
As Oz and Buffy reentered the house and moved to the kitchen, they found Hope, Willow and Tara unloading the bags. "That's a lot more then just steak!" Buffy noted.   
  
"Yeah, well like we said, we don't want to impose on your cupboard" replied Hope. "Besides, you've never had to feed someone like Conn; half of this is for him. Thank Gaia for Derrick and his financial ability, we were just about broke from Conn eating us out of house and home!"  
  
The "Men Folk" were out back inspecting the grill, Oz went to join them. "What is it with men and cooking with fire?" Buffy asked no one in particular.   
  
Willow spoke up "It's a primal regression thing. Most men are helpless in a kitchen, but put them outdoors in front of an open flame with a hunk of meat and its "Ug, me cook food"."  
  
"Well, I don't know about most men, but Conn is a great cook. I sometimes think he could be a master chef at a five star restaurant if he wanted" commented Hope.  
  
At that everyone looked out and saw Conn doing a strange dance around the gas grill. "What's with the two-step around my barbi?" Buffy asked Hope.  
  
"Conn has a problem with Gas Grills. It's a long story. We Garou have some abilities that are akin to a Native American Shaman's. What Conn is doing now is cleansing the evil from the grill." That caught Willow and Tara's attention. They moved outside to get a closer look.  
  
Buffy arched her eyebrows and turned to Hope "My grill is evil?"  
  
"Probably not, but Conn likes to be sure. It's a sort of phobia for him, a character flaw if you want to call it that. That's the main reason he can cook so good, he won't go out to eat since he discovered his first wyrm-tainted grill." That got Buffy thinking about her eating habits.  
  
After the ritual was over, Conn produced a tool box, like one a mechanic would have. Inside it though were all types of spices and seasonings. He also pulled out an apron that said "Kiss the Cook". The sight was comical to say the least. While the grill was heating up, Conn proceeded to rub several of his spices into the steaks he had stacked up nearby. Buffy and Hope joined the rest.  
  
Conn had a few steaks cooking when Buffy's Mom came out back through the kitchen door. "Wow, what smells so great!" Buffy leaped up to great her "Hi Mom! You remember Oz right?" indicating where he stood.  
  
"Hello Mrs. Summers" Oz offered.  
  
"Hello Oz, you've been gone a while."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"He brought some friends back with him from his travels. This is Hope, John, Derrick Krieg and the big guy at the Grill is Conn."  
  
Joyce's eyes got a little wide for a second as she took in the giant with a long handled fork in his hand. Used to this reaction Conn smiled "A pleasure to meet you Mrs. Summers! Yea 'ave a wonderful home and a great daughter!"  
  
Joyce smiled back "Thank you! Any guests who bring their own food and then cook it too are always welcome."  
  
"Um guys," Buffy continued, "Mom knows all about me being The Slayer and the Hellmouth. She knew what Oz was before he left. Is it okay if I…."  
  
The pack looked at each other. John said "In for a penny in for a pound. We've already told 5 outsiders, why not a sixth?"   
  
Krieg motioned over at Anya "What about her?"  
  
"Oh, sorry" replied Xander apologetically "this is my girlfriend Anya. Um, I sorta already told her about you, but then she already knew."  
  
Oz was a little perplexed, "Anya, you knew about us? Why didn't you say anything before?"  
  
"Well, we'd only just met! And most of your kind have a "Kill First; Ask Questions Later" mentality about my kind. I once tried to fulfill the wish of a young Garou girl who'd been spurned, and she nearly killed me when I appeared! Anyway, it worked out didn't it?"  
  
Hope interrupted. "Excuse me, just what is your kind?"  
  
"Vengeance Demon. I'm an ex vengeance demon actually, 100 percent human now."  
  
Laughing, Derrick spoke up. "Wait, stop, let me get the score card. We have here one Slayer, two witches, one warlock, a mage, a kid with two too many souls occupying his body, an ex-vengeance demon and 5 werewolves. Oh and the Slayer's Mom."  
  
"And a partridge in a pear tree…" added Xander.  
  
"And we're all about to sit down to a nice peaceful dinner. Man I thought Friday nights at the Spies Demise was weird."  
  
"I assume then that you four are the other werewolves?" asked Joyce.  
  
"Yes. My name is Hope and I'm the leader of the Red Moon pack, of which Oz is now a member. Please don't get worried. Most of what you know about the race you call werewolves is incorrect. The problems Oz was having before were psychological in nature and he's resolved those issues. We are in complete control of ourselves, and most importantly, it's against our laws to eat humans."  
  
"Well, that's a relief" replied Joyce.   
  
In short order the steaks were ready. The fixings had been laid out buffet style; everyone got a steak from the cook and loaded up their plates. The conversation while they ate was light.   
  
After everyone was done, except for Conn who was on his fourth steak, Derrick called the meeting to order. He had a laptop set up at the table, his palmtop linked to it through a cradle.  
  
"Okay, after last night's conversation, you know a lot about us and what we do. I'm assuming Mr. Giles that you tried to verify our story?"  
  
Nonplussed Giles replied. "Yes I did. In the text books available to me I found almost nothing about the Garou race. I thought I'd found a lead, but it seemed deliberately censored. The pages were torn right out of the book."  
  
"The Garou are a fairly secretive society. Their lore is verbal, no books exist. It's only their enemies, and their few allies, that learn anything about them. Be that as it may, they are indeed "Warriors of the Light" just as your Slayer is. My next question for you is what do you know about an organization known as the Camarilla?"  
  
"I can't say as I've ever heard of them. Why?"  
  
"Well, you see that's one of the things that disturbed us the most about your Council of Watchers and the whole Slayer thing. You see the Camarilla is a society of Vampires. This society is made up of clans of Vampires, held together by a well defined set of rules on Vampire behavior. Those rules are strictly and sometimes violently enforced."  
  
"The most important tenet being to never let humans know they even exist. They call it the Masquerade. And for good reason."  
  
"The Camarilla are everywhere. They are imbedded into the very fabric of mortal society; the government, military and the police. They literally rule every major city on the planet from behind the scenes. The fact that you, a member of the Council of Watchers whose goal is to support and train the Vampire Slayer, does not know who the Camarilla are, worries me."  
  
Giles was stunned. If what Derrick was saying is true, the implications were astonishing.  
  
"How is it that you know of them then?"  
  
"I am a mage, a true mage. I belong to one of the nine "Traditions", specifically the Virtual Adepts.  
  
"A true mage?" Interrupted Tara. "W-what's that?"  
  
Derrick smiled at her "I knew one of you two would ask that question. It's a long answer that would boor the rest of the people her. Later on I'll explain."  
  
"Anyway, the Traditions have had many dealings with the Camarilla over the centuries. While I'd never consider them friends, I have a working relationship with a few of them, dealers in information such as me. What tipped us off was Oz's description of how your kids here fight vamps and what happens when they "kill" one. Red Moon themselves have had the occasion to fight some vamps, usually ones who live in the fringe of Camarilla society, called Anarcs. Oz ran into one in Seattle."  
  
"Yeah, he was feeding off a girl in an ally, when I confronted him. His game face was not like the ones we've got here. No ridges and his eyes looked normal. Still had fangs though."  
  
Derrick continued. "When one of the Camarilla vamps dies, his body does not dust. All it does is shrivel to the state it would be in had the body not been embraced. Then there is the whole "stake in the heart" deal. When staked, a Camarilla vamp does not die, it simply becomes immobilized. Decapitation, fire and enough pure physical damage will kill one, and so will exposure to sunlight, unless they are really old. But crosses and holy water only work if wielded by someone with "True Faith" and those people are rare. I'm talking the Pope, Joan of Arc and other Saintly types. Anyone else, you'll get laughed at, right before you become dinner. Oh, and garlic. I've heard tell that works on a few of them, but not all, perhaps less then one percent. And mirrors are no problem."  
  
"Oh my god" Buffy said flatly. "Then what have I been facing all this time?"  
  
"I asked that very question of one of my Vampire contacts, very discreetly. His answer was that they know of the breed of vamps you face. He called them the Demon or Soulless Ones. He basically said he believed they were created by a Vampire clan call the Followers of Set, or Setites. The way he described them fit Oz's description of your Vamps to a Tee."  
  
"Unless you knew what to look for, you'd have a hard time telling a Camarilla vamp from another person you know. Some are quite compassionate towards humans, protecting them when they can, running shelters and charities. It's their goal to co-exist with humans."   
  
"The Soulless ones are beasts. They are completely outside the Camarilla and are a danger to the Masquerade. In most of the major cities in the world there are truces between the Camarilla and the Garou, both official and unwritten. They stay out of each others way. Should one kill another, the offender is hunted by both sides. My informant basically said it was open season on the soulless ones as far as he was concerned. The Pack could take out as many as they want, as long as the Masquerade was maintained."  
  
Buffy turned to her mentor "Giles, what does all this mean?"  
  
"It means Buffy, that I, we, have been deceived. I cannot conceive of the Council not knowing about this."

"I have a theory on that too" Derrick continued. "I managed to get into the Council's servers..."  
  
"Really?" Interrupted Willow. "I've been trying to do that for a while, but all they have is a dialup in London!"  
  
Smiling at her, "That will be part of our later conversation Willow. I found reports and such on the Watchers version of history, how the earth was once the domain of demons. Most of them were forced out by Man's arrival, leaving only the half-demon vampires behind. The first Slayer was created then, to protect mankind from these demons. Who created her? They don't know for sure."  
  
"The Garou version of prehistory is somewhat similar. At first there was nothing but the Wyld and the Wyrm. The natural cycle of life. Then the Weaver came, man. Shortly after the Weaver corrupted the Wyrm and it went mad. It started to try and pull everything into its domain."  
  
"The Wyld fought back by creating a race of beings to protect it from the ravages of the Wyrm, the changelings or lycanthropes. There are others besides the Garou; werebears, wereboars, weretigers wererats, and more. The Garou however were the most successful. All of the lycanthropes can trace their history back to at least 16,000 BC. The Watcher records seem to indicate that the slayers go back farther, to the dawn of Homo sapiens themselves."  
  
"The Camarilla however trace their roots to the biblical Cain who was supposedly the first Vampire. Their name for themselves is "Cainite" rather then Vampire. While the exact timelines are confusing, I'm taking for granted that Cain existed in a time well after pre-historic man."  
  
"My theory then is this. Keep in mind I don't have a shred of evidence to back this up, just a series of things I've interconnected. The Slayer was one of Gaia's first attempts to protect herself from the Wyrm, in the form of these soulless demon vampires left over from the previous age. The whole thing about the Setites creating the demon vamps is crap, but I'm sure they had dealings with them. In the beginning, the slayers operated independently, mostly on instinct. Because Gaia only allowed one slayer at a time, it was a holding action almost from the beginning."  
  
"The Wyld was loosing ground, so Gaia created the changelings rather then make more Slayers. Why? I don't know but now instead of a single warrior there were hundreds, even thousands. But they had their own problems. Besides their own infighting, there were other wyrm tainted beasts out there in addition to the soulless ones. The changelings left the Slayer to her own devices."  
  
"Then the Cainites arrived. They were more intelligent then the soulless ones, they actually helped to create some of the first human civilizations. The Masquerade soon followed, which the Soulless ones endangered. The Cainites saw in the Slayer a way to help solve this problem, but she needed to be controlled. Enter the Council of Watchers."  
  
Giles interrupted him, "Wait, you're saying that the Council of Watchers, dedicated to the destruction of Vampires and other evils of the world was actually created by vampires! I find that hard to believe!"  
  
"What's so hard to believe? The Cainites have powers, blood magic, that most humans are helpless against. Many have the ability to dominate a humans psyche and control them without the victim even knowing it. They also can create what are known as "Ghouls". These are humans who have been "blood bound" to a Cainite. The ghoul functions as a normal human being and would be completely undetectable short of some magical investigation. I'm telling you that as it is now the Cainites control every major city government in the World! LA, New York, London, Paris, Moscow; all of them have Vampire princes who rule them. Why would it be so hard to control a small, closeted organization like the Watchers?"  
  
"I knew the son's of bitches were Evil with a capital E" added Buffy.   
  
Turning to Buffy, Derrick continued. "Think about the limits the Council places on the Slayer". You MUST fight alone, NO family, NO friends. Think about the brutality with which they treat Slayers. I've read a large portion of the Watchers journals; I've read what they do. You get injured and put on the DL? Oops, sorry your contract has expired. Literally. Most watchers who've been in the situation never thought twice about killing their own Slayer to bring forth the next one."  
  
"And that whole Cruciamentum crap! Which by the way is Latin for "torture", I firmly believe that the whole point of it is to weed out slayers that are becoming TOO powerful. The Cainites wanted the Slayer to deal with the soulless ones. If she became too strong, she could come after the Cainites themselves. Most Slayers never live long enough to come into their own anyway, that's why the test is administrated when the Slayer turns 18."  
  
"What do you mean by 'come into their own?'" asked Giles.  
  
"Look at what the Slayer is imbued with; preternatural strength, speed, toughness and healing abilities. All of which happen to also be Vampire traits. The Slayer was given these so that she would at least be on an even footing with them. The thing is all of these can be increased with the proper training, but they also naturally increase over time. Giles, haven't you noticed this in Buffy?"  
  
"Well yes, I have. She's far stronger than when we first met. And I have been providing her with the proper training."  
  
"I'm sure you have Giles, but it's been from a purely physical perspective. These preternatural abilities are metaphysical and require a certain understanding which I don't think you have. A Vampire could help her, but I don't think that would be advisable. I know a mage in Tacoma, her name is Hwa Sun Yun. She's a member of the Akashic Brotherhood. Think Kwai Chang Cain on steroids. I'm positive she could double Buffy's powers in no time. Even without that kind of training, by the time Buffy is 30, an Abrams tank would have nothing on her. I've heard tails of some older vamps that are literally impervious to physical harm! How many Slayers make 30 Giles?"  
  
"None that I know of."  
  
"Because they somehow meet their end before that. Either at the hands of their enemy, or at the hands of the group who are supposed to protect them. It would be too dangerous for the Camarilla to have such a powerful girl around whose one goal in life is to kill Vampires."  
  
Everyone sat in stunned silence. Joyce eventually broke it. "Buffy, I don't want you to have anything to do with those people ever again."  
  
"Don't worry Mom, they have been off mine and Giles' speed dial for a long time. But I worry about Faith."  
  
The pack had been silent through all this, letting Derrick lead. Hope finally spoke up. "Who's Faith?"  
  
"The other Slayer" relied Giles.  
  
Almost as one, the Pack exclaimed "There's another Slayer?!"  
  
"Oz, you never mentioned another Slayer" said Derrick.  
  
"I didn't? I guess she slipped my mind. Not a nice person really."  
  
"I thought there was only one Slayer at a time?"  
  
Giles answered him. "The next Slayer is called as soon as the current Slayer dies. Buffy died."  
  
Krieg looked Buffy up and down "Pretty good looking for a corpse."  
  
"Buffy drowned in a shallow pool of water, after being knocked unconscious by the Master. Xander found her in time and revived her with CPR. The Slayer Kendra was called. Kendra was killed by the vampire Drusilla, a long time foe of ours, two years ago. When she died, Faith was called. Faith has some . . . issues."  
  
Xander chuckled "Yeah, like being a psycho murdering bitch ho."  
  
"Xander that's not fair!" Replied Buffy.   
  
"Huh? The Mayor, Graduation day, any of this bring anything back to you?"  
  
Looking around, Buffy sees the questioning looks of the new arrivals. "Okay, here's what happened." Buffy explained the whole story of Faith's arrival and her attempts to fit in, the accidental murder of the deputy mayor, her eventual defection over to the Mayors side, and her final fight with Buffy. "And she's been in a coma ever since. Almost a year now. She regrets the whole thing."  
  
Most of the Scooby gang says "Huh?"  
  
"Buffy how can you know that she regrets the whole thing?" asked Giles.  
  
"We'll I've sorta been talking to her. In my dreams."  
  
Giles takes off his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose. "And why have you not been telling me this?"  
  
"We'll it's sorta been personal you know? We've talked about a lot of things, where both of us went wrong in our relationship. We've already apologized profusely to each other. The doctors have no idea why she's in a coma in the first place or how long she'll be there, but if she ever comes out of it, I plan on getting down on my knees and begging her forgiveness."  
  
Hope addressed Buffy. "Excuse me, but how do you know you're talking to Faith in these dreams and it's not some kind of Freudian thing where you're trying to assuage your own guilt?"  
  
"It's a Slayer thing."  
  
Giles offered a better explanation. "The Slayers are connected at a spiritual level. It's possible for the current Slayer to make contact with the previous Slayers in dreams. They can offer the current Slayer insight into what's happened before. I can only assume this ability would work for the two living Slayers."  
  
The Garou nodded. Contact with your past-lives was something familiar to them.  
  
"Plus I don't think she could lie to me when we dream together. We're operating at a different level. She seems so different in our dreamscape, not the rough street kid who came to us. She seems, sweeter, purer."  
  
Hope said "That's because you are talking to her true spirit. It's not encumbered by the garbage that often clutters the conscious mind, fear, prejudice, bad experiences. Why are you worried about her then? Aside from the fact that she's in a comma."  
  
"Lately she's been sounding more depressed. I think she's starting to give up. She says she feels a constant weight upon her, draining her."  
  
While this part of the conversation had been going on, Derrick was busy with his laptop. He'd quickly found what hospital Faith was in and her room number. He also hacked into the hospital computer systems and retrieved her records. Not that he knew how to read them. Pulling up a map of the place, he determined the coordinates of the room she was in and sent a "cam" into it to look in on Faith. There she was, lying in bed. Not that he expected anything else for a coma patient. She was connected to the typical monitoring machines, but she was breathing on her own.  
  
He retuned the cams perceptions to take a look at Faiths Avatar. He'd already looked at Buffy's and it almost fried the cam, so he put some filters in place just in case. What he saw made him choke on his soda. "Holy Shit!"  
  
That stopped the conversation. Everyone turned to him. Hope said "What?"  
  
Looking around Derrick said, "Okay, you'll all need to see this." He reached into the bag that held his laptop and produced a small device. It looked like a glass paperweight, the kind that were essentially a convex lens and would magnify anything under it. It also had a thin cable, which Derrick connected to his laptop. He then placed the device in the center of the table.  
  
"I took a look in on Faith." Suddenly, a 3 dimensional holographic image of Faith in her hospital room appeared above the table.  
  
"Oh wow!" exclaimed Willow. "How are you doing that? There are no cameras in her room, I checked!"  
  
"Like I said, we'll talk later. Anyway, this is a real-time image of her. About what you'd expect. I decided I wanted to take a look at her spirit, her Avatar, her aura, whatever you want to call it. You can tell a lot about a person from that. Very difficult to disguise." Giles, Willow and Tara all nodded in agreement.  
  
"This is what I saw." Derrick ran a few more keystrokes, and the image before them changed. They could see the room, but it looked more like an HR Giger painting, made up of pattern spider webs. They could see Faiths Avatar, an almost blinding white being, but overlaid with streaks of black and red. What shocked them all, and obviously provoked Derrick's reaction was that some THING was attached to her! It looked like a giant tic, it's body lay on top of hers and it had her head clamped in it jaws. It had arms ending in pincers, each grasping Faith's body in various places.  
  
Xander was the first to respond. "Okay, that does not look good."  
  
"Understate things much?" Buffy asked him. "What the hell is that and how do we get it off of her."  
  
Derrick looked at the Pack. "This is your forte guys, not mine."  
  
John replied. "It's a type of Umbrood, a creature of the spirit world. My teacher told me about them. I believe it feeds off of the life energy of its victims. It can also control their behavior to an extent by modifying their emotions." Looking at his pack mates, "It's a lot like those things we ran into at that insane asylum in Toronto."  
  
"How long has it been there?" asked Giles.   
  
"We'll I've always thought they were smaller. Perhaps they grow with age and the life force they've absorbed. If we go by that I'd say it's been around a while, judging by its size."  
  
Buffy repeated "How do we get it off!"  
  
"If it's anything like the things from Toronto, killing it will kill the host. Their life forces are entwined while it's attached. You need to find a way to get it off first. And that's the trick; they don't like to give up their food supplies. We did it in Toronto using a Garou gift to manipulate spirits. It could work again."  
  
"Great, let's go!" Buffy stood and made for the kitchen door.  
  
Krieg headed her off "Whoa kid! We need to plan this a little more. Running off half-cocked will only get people killed, probably Faith."  
  
"Mr. Krieg is correct Buffy" said Giles. "This requires more thought. Any suggestions?"  
  
Silence except for Derrick, who was tapping wildly away at his keyboard. "Too slow!" He got out his VR goggles and hooked them up. "I'll be back in a minute." After donning the goggles, he keyed in a few things and then slumped in his chair.  
  
Joyce was alarmed. "Is he okay?"  
  
"Yeah," replied John. "He does that all the time."  
  
Within a minute, Derrick sat up and took the goggles of. "Okay, I went and dug through some stuff the Verbena have let the Virtual Adepts's put online. What we need to do is convince it that its meal ticket dried up. I can do that by putting Faith into a kind of Stasis. The trick is not to catch our bug here in the same stasis. Conn and company can then use their mojo to lure it away from Faith and dispatch it. Buffy I suggest you be there too. This thing has been feeding off of a Slayer, no telling what it could have absorbed."  
  
"When the thing disconnects from Faith, Willow and Tara could put up a shield. A reverse containment circle with themselves and Faith inside it. Can you two do that?"  
  
"Um, y-yeah" replied Tara. "We'd j-just need a few s-supplies."  
  
"Great. Once the bug realizes it's been had, it may try to return to Faith, knowing that we don't dare kill it while it's latched on, your circle will keep it out. Perhaps John and Hope should stay in the physical world in the hospital room, in case the thing tries to bolt that way. Giles and Xander will stand guard outside the room to make sure we're not interrupted. I'll ride herd on the whole thing. Anyone have any additions?"  
  
Everyone looked around at one another. No one could think of anything else.  
  
"Okay, sounds like a plan!" Derrick began packing up his gear.   
  
Everyone else stood and began clearing the tables. "You people leave that for me" said Joyce. "Go save Faith."  
  
"Thanks Mom!" Buffy went over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.   
  
"Just come home safe, that's all. And if you're sure about Faith, tell her she has a home here. I don't want her going back to that flea bag motel."  
  
Hope went to Derrick. "You take the witches to go get their gear, the rest of us will wait for you at the front of the hospital."  
  
"Okay you two, you're with me!" Derrick moved into the living room of the house. "Where is your stuff?"  
  
"In Tara's dorm room" replied Willow.  
  
"Okay, hold on a sec." Derrick had his palmtop out and was using the stylus to key in something. "Okay, hold onto your hats!" Derrick made one last keystroke and instantly, the three were transported into Tara's dorm room.  
  
"H-H-How did y-you do that!" asked Tara.  
  
"Like I said, we need to talk. Well we've got at least ten minutes before the gang gets to the hospital. Get your stuff together and then sit down."  
  
The girls gathered up a few things, candles, some small vials, some chalk and a few books. They placed it all in a gym bag and then sat down on Tara's bed together.  
  
"Okay," Derrick continued. "I called you two "witches" tonight, and I referred to myself as a "mage". Any clue as to why?"  
  
"I just thought that's what you liked to be called" offered Willow.  
  
"Well, yes and no. Okay, here is the short version. There are two general types of magic in the universe. Static and Dynamic. You two practice static magic. Static magic fits in with what is called consentual reality. The reality of our world is governed by the sum of human awareness, in other words what "normal" people consider to be real."  
  
"You use spells and potions to bring together certain energies to create some type of result. You're actually manipulating reality in a small way, but in a way that's acceptable to reality itself. These spells have been around for eons. Even though they won't admit it outwardly most human beings believe in this type of magic, so it works. It takes a long time to modify reality, so it is considered static. Mages call this Hedge Magic and its practitioners witches, wizards, warlocks or sorcerers."  
  
"Dynamic magic bends reality. A True Mage modifies reality to conform to his will. There are no spells involved, no eye of newt or sparrow tongues. All that is required is that the mage be Awakened to the true natures of reality, what spheres govern its shape. We use a foci of some kind to help galvanize our intentions. Mine is my plamtop. Sometimes we create rotes, which are . . . sort of like spells. A rote is the predetermined manipulation of certain spheres of reality which produce predictable results."  
  
"Of course the problem is that reality does not like to be bent. It can lash back at you in the form of Paradox. This can take many forms from a headache, sickness or even death. A mage must walk a fine line. Which is why we categorize Dynamic magic two ways; Vulgar and Coincidental."  
  
"With vulgar magic, a paradox backlash is almost assured. If I were to stand in the middle of a street and start shooting giant fireballs around, that's vulgar. Make a whale appear in the middle of a department store, that's vulgar. Vulgar magic is only used in desperate need."  
  
"Coincidental magic, when done right, goes completely un-noticed by the un-awakened. Traffic lights conveniently turn green as you approach them. A door gets stuck preventing an enemy from following you. A locked door is somehow unlocked when you need to escape through it."  
  
"But what about how you brought us here? Wasn't that vulgar?" asked Willow.  
  
"Ah, now is where we have the fine line. Vulgar magic is only really vulgar if there are witnesses."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"The analogy is; if a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Vulgar magic flies in the face of what people have defined as reality. If there is no one there to witness the event, no one's reality is bent, therefore it's less vulgar."  
  
"But w-we witnessed it!"  
  
"Yes, but you two aren't exactly sleepers. You already practice static magic and you live on the Hellmouth, fighting nightmarish creatures of all kinds. While I did surprise you, you easily accepted it. Enough for now, we need to get going."  
  
Derrick stood up and motioned for them to stand next to him. Getting his palmtop out, he scanned for a clear landing zone, entered the coordinates and kicked off his rote. "Energize!"  
  



	16. Chapter 15 Saving Faith

Saving Faith 

----------------------------------------------

The three appeared in a side alley next to the hospital. Moving towards the front entrance, they found the Scooby gang and Red Moon just pulling up. "Okay folks, here's the plan. First, everyone take one of these." Derrick handed each the Scooby gang one of the Spider Fetishes. The Pack donned their own. "These are Fetishes. You wear them on your ear, like this." He placed his own on, making sure they all saw. Xander shivered when he saw the spider move on its own. "These will allow all of us to communicate in a telepathic fashion. It's an "open mike" if you speak verbally. If you want to go non-verbal you have to consciously use it. It's like talking, but without moving your lips. Let's practice."  
  
It was weird at first but they all quickly got the hang of it. "The best part is that these not only work here, but also in the Spirit world and in between. They will also translate English and Garou. Willow, Tara, Giles and Xander will go in like they are visiting Faith. Once you're in the room, begin drawing the containment circle, but don't activate it. Hope and John will wander the halls on Faith's floor, watching for trouble."  
  
"Oz, Conn and Krieg will take Buffy across the Gauntlet into the Umbra. They will make their way up to our bug and lure it away from Faith once I put her in stasis. When it's clear, I'll signal Willow and Tara to engage the circle of protection. Conn's team deals with the bug and we're done. Easy Peasy!"  
  
"And where will you be Derrick?" asked Giles.  
  
"I'll set up shop in the Van. I'll be using my Art to monitor the whole situation. The Pack and I are used to fighting this way and I'm sure you guys will fall right in step with it."  
  
"Buffy," said Hope, "The biggest thing you need to remember is that you WON'T be able to enter or leave the Umbra by yourself. You don't know how to cross the Gauntlet and I don't know if we can teach it to you. It's important that you don't become separated from the boys. If you do, get out of the hospital and make your way to the church on Walnut Street. We checked the place out today and it has a strong spiritual presence and resonates with True Faith, you can't miss it. You'll be safe there until we can come get you."  
  
"Plus, I know you're used to working alone for the most part, but while you're in the Umbra, Conn is in charge. He's our packs War leader and he has more experience fighting in the Umbra then you. Oh, and if you have anything more technologically complex then a belt buckle, you'll need to leave it behind."  
  
"Okay, I can live with that." Buffy replied. She took off her watch and handed it to Giles along with her cell phone.  
  
"Aye, and take this with ye lass." Conn pulled out a large fighting knife, like a Bowie. Its sheath was decorated with runes and smaller fetishes. "Wooden stakes might only piss this thing off. This here knife is a Fang Dagger, a type of fetish, one o' the first I made. Contains a Pain spirit. Make sure ye dinna touch the blade with your bare skin, or ye will find out. I'll need a drop o' yer blood though."  
  
"My blood?"  
  
"Aye, I need to attune this to ye, or it'll nay work."  
  
John moved over to assist them. Conn held the fang dagger under Buffy's hand and John used a smaller blade to prick her thumb. Blood quickly welled up and a few drops landed on the fang dagger. Conn was mumbling words in Garou at the same time. As the drops landed, they were absorbed into the blade.  
  
Handing the blade to Buffy, "There, now it knows ye lass. Wield it well."  
  
"Anyone else have anything to add?" asked Hope. No one spoke. "Okay, places everyone!"  
  
Conn led his group to the same ally that Krieg and the Witches came out of. "Okay Buffy, all you really need to do is hold on tight to one of us. Why not just take Krieg and Oz's hand. I'll open the way for all of us."   
  
Buffy took the other guys hands and they all stood next to Conn. "It's best if you close your eyes the first few times" Oz told her. Conn pulled the leather thong around his neck out from under his shirt. Attached to the other end was a small copper mirror. He looked into it and concentrated. It felt to Buffy like someone was pulling a sweater over her head and the neck was too small.   
  
The sensation did not last long, but she kept her eyes closed when it was gone. Oz squeezed her hand. "Okay Buffy, we're here." She looked around. Everything was sort of grey. Stepping out from the ally she saw that the landscape was sort of barren. A lot of the buildings she knew that were near the hospital were not here. The hospital was though. It looked different, more ominous.  
  
"Buffy what you're seeing is the Hospitals spirit" explained Krieg. "Most hospitals aren't very happy places due to the amount of trauma and death that occurs here. Their spirits reflect that. We may encounter other things inside here that we'll have to fight, but we'll avoid that if we can. About the only non-dreary place is the maternity ward. Those are always filled with happiness."  
  
Entering the building, Buffy noted that what would be the lobby was nothing like she remembered it. It was empty; none of the desks or chairs were present. They past what would have been the elevator bank. Instead of an elevator, what she saw looked like a basket woven of spider webs.  
  
Krieg saw her look of disgust. "I wouldn't use that Buffy. It would actually work, but you don't want to trust it. It's made by Weaver spirits. They will attack if they think their pattern is in danger. We'll take the stairs."  
  
Faith's room was on the second floor. As they exited the staircase Buffy noted, "There are no room numbers."  
  
"Yeah, there never are" replied Oz. "Derrick we're on the 2nd floor, which way?"  
  
In their minds they all heard. "_Make a left out of the stair case, two corridors down make a right, third door on the right."  
_  
To this point they'd not encountered anything, but as they passed the first intersection, they spotted something walking down the corridor. It was human like, but covered in some type of membrane.   
  
"T'is a shade" said Conn. "One of the recently dead. Wandering the halls cause for some reason he dinna pass to a higher plain, or lower. He'll eventually make 'is way ta the Shadow Lands. Another "layer" o' the Umbra that overlaps this one. Not a fun place."  
  
As the group turned right down the second corridor, they could see something standing in front of the third door on the right. Three something's actually. The first was an amorphous blob, somewhat man shaped. It glowed white at the center, with different colored streaks. The second and third ones were more defined.  
  
Standing there was a soldier wearing Vietnam-era fatigues and full battle kit. Sitting on the floor at his side, was the ugliest dog Buffy had ever seen. It had a heavy collar and chain, the end of which was being held by soldier boy. Buffy went up to the soldier. "You must be the guy inhabiting Xander."  
  
Krieg stood next to her. "I don't think he can hear you Buffy. If we spent some time at it we could probably reach him."  
  
They both heard Derrick over their Spider Fetishes. "Guys I think if you address him as a Commanding Officer would, he'll respond".  
  
Krieg smiled and got in the guys face. "Ten Hut!" The soldier snapped to attention. "Name, rank and unit!"  
  
"Sir! Master Gunnery Sergeant Tom Spader, 1st Marine Division, 4th Recon Battalion."  
  
"Force Recon, ooo rah Gunney!"  
  
"Semper Fi Sir."  
  
"Okay, listen up Gunney. We're Spec Ops, and we're about to make a run on a bad guy. We'd like you and your K-9 trooper here to guard our flank, you got that?"  
  
"Aye Aye Sir! Sempre Fie, do or die!"  
  
"Outstanding. Also it's imperative that the bad guy never makes it back into this room."  
  
"Aye Aye Sir!" The Hyena actually growled in apparent anticipation.  
  
In the physical world, Xander and Giles were standing on either side of Faith's door, trying to look unobtrusive. Had anyone been looking at Xander, they would have noticed a visible change sweep over him. His face became harder, more resolute. His back got a little straighter.   
  
Willow and Tara had moved Faith's bed into the middle of the room. Using chalk, they drew a containment circle around the bed, with themselves inside.  
  
Over their Spider Fetishes they heard Derrick "Willow, hold out your hand."  
  
She did so, and two small devices appeared in her palm. They looked a little like metallic suction cups.  
  
"Put one Faiths forehead and the other on the side of the monitoring machine behind her bed" instructed Derrick. She did so.  
  
"Okay, it looks like everyone is in place." Derrick announced to everyone. "I'm set on my end. I'll put Faith in stasis as soon as you're ready. It's on you Conn."  
  
Conn addressed his team. "Okay you three this er's what's ginna appen. I'm ginna "Call the Wyrm". Every Wyrm beast in a 'undred yards or so is ginna come a runnin. Hopefully that bug on Faith will come a charging outa that door too. Buffy an me will deal with it. Oz, you and Kreig are gonna cover our backs when the rest of the Wyrm's beasties arrive. Hopefully we won't attract anything too powerful. Buffy I want you to concentrate on makin sure our beastie dinna get back in the room. Ye ken me?"  
  
They all replied "Aye Aye Sir!" with a twinkle in their eyes.   
  
"Funny. Get ready."  
  
Oz and Krieg took up opposite positions about 10 yards from Faiths door. Buffy stood on the other side of the door, trying not to make actual contact with Giles's spirit. Even the Hyena spirit got up and faced the door. Conn moved so he was not directly in front of the door, and transformed into Crinos. There was barely enough room for him. He mumbled a few words in Garou and the let out a Howl. Those close by in the physical world paused as if they'd heard a strange noise.  
  
It was sort of creepy, and Buffy could detect the hint of a challenge in it. Sort of a "Here I am, come and get me" thing. Conn repeated the Howl.  
  
Derrick timed it so that Conn's first Howl would distract the beast, allowing him to put Faith into stasis without it noticing. It was harmless to her; the suction cup device was just a way for him to make direct contact with Faith. The problem was that as soon as he did this to her, all of her vital sign monitors flat-lined. That's what the other device was for, to provide the nurses station with the correct signals so they wouldn't call a Code. On Conn's second Howl, the bug reacted. "It's on the move!" they all heard Derrick say. The thing burst through the doorway, landing on the opposite wall, clinging to it like a spider. It hissed at Conn. Conn Howled back and attacked.  
  
"Willow, Tara Now!" Derrick shouted. The witches snapped into action. Linking hands over Faith they began the incantation. It could be rushed, but not mispronounced so they were careful. But something felt different. They'd done containment spells before, but somehow this was, better. Normally the field was invisible. Now the pair could see actual walls coming up around them, strong walls like a fortress. Had anyone been looking, they would have seen the same wall appear in the spirit world too.  
  
In the Umbra, the Umbrood and Conn were in a furious contest. Buffy didn't dare try to enter the battle yet, there was not enough room. Instead she set herself to guard the way back in. So did Gunny Spader and the hyena.  
  
When the witches completed their spell, the Umbrood turned and screamed. It broke from Conn and tried to get back. Conn grabbed it by one of its hind legs and restrained it. Buffy took the opportunity to get her licks in. Using the Fang Dagger Conn gave her she slashed at one of it's flailing arms, severing it. The thing screamed in pain.  
  
It was then that some more Wyrm beasts arrived, bane spirits in many twisted forms. Krieg and Oz attacked first. Some pattern spiders actually came down from the ceiling behind Buffy. The Marine attacked one bare-handed and the Hyena grabbed one in its jaws, shaking it viciously.   
  
Willow and Tara were standing on either side of Faith's bed, still holding hands, Amazed at what they constructed. Suddenly, both heard the rustle of sheets from the bed. Faith was stirring.   
  
"Faith! It's me Willow! Can you hear me?"  
  
Faith slowly opened her eyes. "That you Red?"  
  
"Yes Faith it's me. How do you feel?"  
  
She started to speak, but her voice cracked. Tara reached for a water container with a bendy straw. After taking a few sips Faith said. "Thanks Blondie. Do I know you?"  
  
"K-kinda."  
  
"Cool. So what's the what Red?"  
  
"You were being mentally sucked dry by some kind of Spirit bug. It kept you in a coma for the better part of a year. Buffy and some friends got it off you and are fighting it now."  
  
"A year? Buffy. Does she….?'  
  
"Relax Faith. We think we know what went on. Buffy is sorry she put you in here and wants you back. What happened, happened. We can work though it all. I know you've been in coma, but try to go back to sleep."  
  
One of the pattern spiders actually made it past Gunny Spader. It encountered the shield wall the Witches had erected. The two of them could sense the intruder. Tara sent her perceptions beyond the wall, saw the thing and its life force. She simply snuffed it out. The pattern spider dissolved into a mist.   
  
With Buffy attacking from one side, and Conn from the other, they made short work of the Bug. By then though, more Banes had arrived at the scene. Buffy went to help Krieg, and Conn went to Oz.  
  
With the added help, the banes were quickly defeated. But as Buffy and the guys were catching their breaths, they felt the building shudder.   
  
"Crap, Derrick, what was that?" Krieg asked nonchalantly.   
  
"_Wait one. Okay, I have movement from the basement. Something big just left the morgue and is heading up the elevator shaft on Conn's side, to the left_."  
  
Buffy sighed, "The morgue, why don't I like the sound of that."  
  
Conn didn't hesitate, he ran towards the elevator shaft, his mates and Buffy right behind him. Peering down the shaft, he saw something rising up. Well, oozing might have been a better term. It looked like it was made up of human bodies, lots of them. Heads, arms, legs torsos, all mixed together. Some of the heads had grown larger and where there should be teeth, fangs appeared. They were screaming in pain or fury, it was hard to tell the difference. Some arms ended in claws or pincers instead of hands.  
  
Buffy and the rest could not see as Conn blocked the entrance to the shaft. He backed up momentarily and paused. Buffy began to see something grow over the top of Conn's fur. It looked chitinous, like the shell of a bug. I covered him head to toe like armor. Tilting his head back, Conn howled in Rage and then jumped down into the shaft.  
  
Krieg, Oz and Buffy looked down the shaft. They got their first glimpse of the monstrosity, and could see Conn sinking into it as if it was quicksand. e didn't seem to be fighting it. Krieg started to growl. Derrick spoke to them, "_Guys, I can see that this thing extends down into the basement still. It's probably exposed down there too._"  
  
With only a look at each other, Krieg, Buffy and Oz hit the stairs. They were only on the second floor, so the trip to the basement didn't take long. When they arrived they could see the thing stretching from what must have been the morgue, into the elevator shaft.  
  
Oz and Krieg wasted no time attacking it. Sharpened claws were no match for naked flesh. They tore huge gouges out of the thing. Of course to get that close, they also came in range of the things many arms, and were getting hit themselves. Buffy, armed only with her Fang Dagger darted in and out, striking and attempting to stay out of the things range.   
  
The three could hear Howls of rage from the other side of the nightmare creature. John and Hope announcing they had chosen to join the fight as well. With two pairs of Garou on either side of it, they managed to sever it in two, one end retreating back into the morgue, while the other remained in the shaft.   
  
The four Garou regarded each other, and through the Spider Fetish, Buffy could hear Hope ask "Where's Conn?"  
  
Krieg pointed at the elevator shaft. The remaining part of the beast was still "Alive", its various faces and arms reaching out towards the 5, but it didn't make any moves to come closer. Just then, its entire bulk gave a shudder. An arm thrust out from the middle of the thing, only this arm ended in a Garou's claws and was covered in chitious armor. Conn's other arm appeared, ripping an opening for the rest of him to come sliding down onto the floor. From the floor he Howled in Victory.  
  
Krieg and John helped the big guy up. "Anyone for round two?" Conn asked.  
  
Hope stepped in front of him. "Well that was a harebrained stunt" She could see Conn bristle, and he was about to argue the point, but Hope stopped him. "Hold on Conn, the other half of that thing is still in there." Hope pointed towards the morgue. "I think we need to finish it. Oz, why don't you take Buffy back, I think the three of us can deal.  
  
"No!" replied Buffy. "I've come this far, I want to finish it. Besides," she looked down at herself, covered in blood and gore, "I've already ruined this sweater, a little more can't hurt."  
  
"Derrick?"   
  
"_I'm here. I've scanned the rest of the area, no apparent movement. Your John Carpenter Movie extra seems to be anchored to the body storage thingy. You know, all those drawers where they keep the stiffs in."_  
  
Hope turned to Conn again, "It's your show dare-devil boy, lead on."  
  
Conn just kicked the doors in. There against the back wall was the creature. From where the dozen or so drawers would have been extended the merged and mutilated corpses. From there they merged again to form one mass, which now ended in a bloody stump. It looked like some sort of twisted Play-Doe factory.  
  
Conn directed Buffy and the Pack to move around the perimeter of the room. Conn just attacked the stump head-on. Krieg, Oz and Buffy on one side, and Hope and John on the other, they attacked the parts that came out of the drawer openings.   
  
It only took another minute or so to totally defeat the thing. They all picked up some more scratches, but nothing life threatening.   
  
"Are we clear?" Conn asked.  
  
"_Yup, I don't scan any movement. If you head out and to the left, there is a locker room. It's currently empty in the physical world. You can cross over and Buffy can pick up some scrubs."_  
  
"Thanks Derrick" replied Conn. "How's Faith."  
  
"Out of the coma already, but a little shaky as you'd expect. The girls are with her."  
  
Buffy looked relieved and anxious at the same time. "Can we go to her now?"  
  
"Sure," replied Hope "let's just get you cleaned up first."  
  
Walking over to the locker room, John brought everyone through to the physical world. Again, Buffy had that feeling of being pulled through something. On the other side the Garou all transformed back into Human form. The blood and gore that had been on their hides, disappeared. Their human forms were fully clothed and clean!  
  
"Hey!" Buffy objected, "How come you're clean and I still look like a reject from a Butcher shop?"  
  
"Just a little Garou magic" replied Hope. "Okay, Men OUT! Buffy and I will be out in ten minutes. Derrick, please keep your eyes out of here, and please see that no one comes down here."  
  
Ten minutes later, the girls emerged. Buffy was dressed in hospital scrubs, her wet hair combed back. "Okay kids, let's go meet the person all this fuss was about" announced Hope, leading them to the stair case. No one wanted to take the elevator.  
  
Arriving at Faith's room, Buffy was the first one in, only to narrowly avoid slamming her face into a wall. Giles and Xander were wandering around examining it.  
  
"Huh? Where did this come from?" asked a surprised Buffy.  
  
"S-s-sorry Buffy" replied Tara. "Something weird happened; this was not what was supposed to happen." But everyone outside the wall only heard this through the Spider fetish.  
  
"Yes it was Tara" said Willow. "We were both thinking about putting up a wall, the strongest one we could. We got one."  
  
"_Welcome to the club girls, you've just performed your first act of Dynamic magic._" They, and only they, heard Derrick say that.   
  
Both of them were stunned. "H-h-how?" asked Tara.  
  
"I_t was my little talk with you earlier that did it. You were both on the verge of your Awakening. By simply introducing the concept that there was something more out there pushed you over the edge. You imposed your will on Reality. The wall by the way extends to the spirit world too. You accomplished what you wanted to do, only more so._"  
  
"So how do we get rid of it?" pleaded Willow.  
  
"_Join hands and concentrate on merging your energies again. I think you each acted as the others Foci. When it feels right, simply will the wall gone."  
_  
They looked at each other and smiled. It pleased them that they had that level of cooperation. Grasping each others hands, they opened themselves to each others life force. It felt, wonderful.  
  
"Tara?"  
  
"Yes Willow?"  
  
"I think I can learn to like this."  
  
Through their connection, they could feel each others emotions and more. It was the most intimate thing either had ever experienced. They began to revel in each other. Tara brought them back into focus.  
  
"Willow, the wall?"  
  
Sounding very disappointed Willow responded "Oh, yeah."  
  
Both sent their senses out to the wall, touching the reality of it. Then acting as one, they simply willed it away.  
  
Those who were waiting outside blinked in astonishment as the wall disappeared, revealing Faith in her bed with the two lovers holding hands over her.   
  
Even with the wall gone the room was too small for the whole crew to be in there at the same time so Conn and Krieg stayed outside. Xander went out to join them.  
  
Buffy went up to Faith's bed, standing next to Willow. Faith's eyes were closed at the moment. Buffy looked at Tara and then Willow, silently asking for some sort of permission.  
  
Willow told her "Go ahead Buff; she's been in and out of sleep since coming out of the coma."  
  
Buffy called out quietly "Faith?"   
  
Faith stirred and opened her eyes "Hey B"  
  
Tears beginning to come to her eyes, Buffy moved to take Faith's hand. "Oh Faith, I'm so sorry!"  
  
"Sokay, B. Nothing for you to be sorry for. I'm the one that tried to kill everyone."  
  
"Faith listen to me, there was something, attached, to your soul, your spirit. We think it might have been controlling you. We don't know how long it was there, but don't you see? None of this was your fault!"  
  
Faith was still a little groggy to totally comprehend what Buffy just said. Willow came around to Tara's side. Clasping Willow's hand, Tara looked down at the remains of their spell, the circle of protection they drew and a bunch of candles. Looking at it all, she simply waved her hand, and it all disappeared.   
  
"This is going to come in h-handy"  
  
Out in the hall, someone who looked like a doctor approached the boys. Conn moved to block his path into the room. "Excuse me, but what's going on. We don't allow these many visitors at one time. Please step aside."  
  
"Sorry doctor" Oz interceded. "We are all friends and family of the Faith's. And…"  
  
Giles emerged from the room. "It's alright gentleman. I think the doctor needs to see his patient. Something miraculous happened shortly after we arrived." Conn stepped aside and let him pass.  
  
"High doc." Added Faith, as he entered the room, which stopped the Doctor in his tracks.  
  
"My God, Ms. Wilkens, you're awake. How do you feel?"  
  
Wilkens? Faith thought to herself. "I'm Five (cough) by Five."  
  
"Well all of you will have to leave the room while we examine Ms. Wilkens to see how she's doing." He stepped over to the intercom and called for a nurse.  
  
While this was happening, Xander was talking to Conn and Krieg.  
  
"Okay, I heard part of what happened through these spider things, but the rest is sorta blurry. Can you guys fill me in?" Xander asked them.  
  
Krieg put a hand on his shoulder. "Well kid, let's just say that you got in touch with your passengers. They both joined in and did good for themselves within the limits placed on them. And if I were you, I'd make an effort to find out everything I could about Master Gunnery Sergeant John Spader, USMC."   
  
"_I've already pulled his jacket Xander_." All three could hear Derrick. "_From first glance, the guy was a regular hero type. More medals then you can shake a stick at, including the CMH, posthumously. I'll have a hardcopy for you when we get back."_  
  
"CMH?" asked Xander.  
  
"_Congressional Medal of Honor. The highest award the military can bestow upon someone in uniform._" Replied Derrick.  
  
Krieg continued "There you go kid. My personal opinion is that the only reason the Hyena spirit has not run away with your psyche is that Gunny Spader is keeping him in line. We "awoke" his spirit for the fight. What you need to do is learn how to tap into both of them when you need to. Spader was Force Recon, sort of special forces for the Marines. I'd think twice before tangling with those guys."  
  
"Wow, and you're saying I can do all that Arnold Schwarzenegger stuff?"  
  
"No, what I'm saying is that with the Gunny's help, you can train to do all that stuff and do it well. Do you play football?" Krieg asked him.  
  
"No, I never really had what it took."  
  
"Do you know how to play the game?"  
  
"Sure, I watch Pro ball all the time."  
  
"It's the same thing, the Gunny can tell you the rules and show you the plays, but you still have to train in order to be in the game. Think about it."  
  
Just then a nurse came up to the room, and gave each of them a nasty look, especially Conn, and then entered the room.  
  
Giles and the girls came out soon after. "Doctor kicked us out, but she's okay." Buffy informed them.  
  
Hope came up to her. "Buffy, the boys and I are going to go. Faith doesn't know us, so no need to add things to her pile yet. Derrick is going to maintain a watch over her, so you don't need to stay past getting some info from the doctor and saying goodnight to her. I don't think I need to tell you that the sooner she's out of here the better."  
  
"No, if I could bring her home now I would."  
  
"Don't forget to let her know that. My point being that if someone did put that thing on her for a reason, they will find out soon enough that it's gone. She's too vulnerable here. I think if she's up to it, tomorrow we have Derrick check her out."  
  
"Derrick?"  
  
"You'd be surprised what that little conniver is capable of."  
  
"_Hey, I resemble that remark!_" both girls heard Derrick announce.  
  
Laughing Hope continued "We'll just plan it as a contingency. If it looks like Faith is in an ounce of trouble, pop her out Derrick."  
  
"_You got it._"  
  
"Won't he need to be relieved? It's almost midnight as it is" asked Buffy.  
  
Derrick exclaimed "_Sleep is for wimps!_"  
  
"Don't worry Buffy, Derrick treats sleep as an enemy and he has ways around it. We're leaving. You talk to the doctor and say goodnight to Faith. We'll call you in the morning." Hope hugged Buffy. Krieg punched her lightly on the arm and said "Nice job, I'd fight next to you anytime." Conn picked her up into a bear hug. "Same for me Lass!" Oz just smiled and said "Later." The Red Moon Pack walked away.  
  
The rest of the Scoobies were rather impatiently waiting for the doctor to come out. They were about to barge in when he came he finally did. "She appears to be fine. I gave her some simple neurological tests and there appears to be no brain damage. The wounds that brought her here are all healed long ago, but her muscles have atrophied from disuse during her coma. There will be a few months of physical rehabilitation ahead of her, but otherwise, she's okay"  
  
"Thank you Doctor, that's a relief" answered Giles. "May we see her?"  
  
"For five minutes only. Despite her enforced rest, she is still tired and will hopefully sleep normally tonight. We've removed the nasal feeding tube, but we won't try feeding her until the morning." With that he left.  
  
The gang re-entered. Buffy went to one side of her bed, Giles to the other. Willow and Tara stood at the end.  
  
"Faith, I'm pleased to see you awake" said Giles.  
  
"Are you really Giles? After what I did to you, how can any of you even look at me?"  
  
"Faith," replied Buffy, "Like I said we think you were being controlled. Do you remember talking to me, the dreams we shared."  
  
"Yeah, but it's a little vague. I don't know if that was real or not."  
  
"Well it was; it's a Slayer thing. We talked a lot in those dreams and we've already forgiven each other. I'm sure we were talking to one another at a level that thing couldn't control. I wish we would have discovered it earlier Faith, none of this would have happened."  
  
"Yeah, well, nothing to do now but pay the piper. I'm a murderer; I guess its jail time for me."  
  
"No Faith, you made a mistake! Besides it really wasn't you was it? That thing could have been controlling you! Giles am I right?"  
  
"Well, yes. Besides, I'd say a year in a coma was payment enough for an accident. Plus the fact as Angel would attest, rotting in jail is not the best place to repay for ones sins. "Fighting the Good Fight" as it were would prove more helpful."  
  
"Tweed is right kid." The gang turned to see Whistler standing in the corner.  
  
"What do YOU want?" Buffy said with no small amount of hostility.   
  
"Relax Slayer, I'm just the messenger." Whistler walked up so Faith could see him. "The Powers That Be agree with Giles. So don't go sliding into some sort of self-punishing gloom like Angel. You're not getting a second chance Faith." Anger erupted in the room.  
  
"Wait, wait all of you and let me finish. She's not getting a second chance because she never really had a first one! The dark forces had it rigged." Looking at Buffy he continued. "You and your new friends just took a big piece off their side of the board and put it back on yours. You are right about a few things, but don't have the whole picture yet."  
  
"And I suppose you're not going to fill us in." Buffy stated angrily.   
  
"Not the way it works babe. I'm just here to tell Faithy that things are Tabla Rosa as far as the PTB's and her go. She needs to get back on her feet pronto too. Buffy you once told me you were sick and tired of doing all this by yourself. We'll now you're getting some help, use them wisely. Not immediately, but soon you're going to need all the help you can get."  
  
"Adam?" Willow ventured.  
  
"Him, no, he's just a speed bump. You and you're new pals will find a way to deal with him. Let's just say that a few people who were otherwise ignoring Sunnydale will begin to take notice; dangerous people. Watch you're backs everyone, and decide now who you can trust and who you can't. Later." Whistler disappeared in a puff of smoke.  
  
Xander remarked. "Do any of you feel more informed then before he got here?"  
  
No one answered.  
  
They all looked back at Faith, who was crying. Buffy rushed over and gathered her into her arms. "Don't worry Sister. Everything's going to be alright."

-------------------------------------------

TBC  



	17. Chapter 16 A New Day

A New Day 

-------------------------------------------  
The next morning, Oz was still a little depressed about loosing Willow, but less so then the day before. Working together on the mission to save Faith helped. In the mean time, he had other things that he couldn't put off any longer. Like reconnecting with the Dingo's and apologize to them too. And then there was his Mom. Oh joy. "_Why did I come back here_?" he asked himself.  
  
Locating the rest of the pack in Hope's room, he told them "Look guys, I'm going to play the old-home game today. I need to find my band and my family and think up something to say to them. I'm going to leave out the whole Garou thing. I'll probably use the "went off to find myself" routine, which is sorta true."  
  
"That's okay Oz," said Hope, "We're going to pick up Buffy and go spring Faith out of the Hospital. We're going to have a de-brief at Buffy's this afternoon, but you can skip it. Derrick has also been talking about house hunting. This hotel is a little cramped, and if we're going to be here for a while, some better digs might be nice. We'll probably go on patrol with Buffy tonight, why don't you hook up with us by then?"  
  
"Okay, cool."  
  
"You'll need a ride though. We'll need the Van; maybe you can take Krieg's bike?"  
  
"MY bike! What about Conn's?" Krieg responded angrily.  
  
"Ach, the laddie could nea reach the pedals on me trike!"  
  
Krieg looked at Oz, "Do you even know how to ride one?"  
  
"Yup, no problem."  
  
"Okay, but just this once. You scratch it, I'll take it out of your hide!" He tossed Oz the keys.  
  
"Cool. See ya" Oz left.  
  
Derrick and the pack went to Revello Drive to pick up Buffy. Derrick had gotten Hope a nurses outfit and he was posing as a doctor from a private rehabilitation center. While John Conn and Kreig parked themselves in front of the TV, Derrick Hope and Buffy went in to gather up Faith. Derrick strode in like he owned the place and no one seemed to question him at all. The hospitals attending physician signed the release papers without batting an eye.  
  
True to her word, Buffy's Mom welcomed Faith with open arms. Faith cried again. Before, the love she was getting from this surrogate family aggravated her, and drove her to the Mayor. Now it felt like a warm blanket. It was like she was dealing with an entirely new set of emotions, ones that had been suppressed for a long time. Buffy and Hope brought her upstairs and got her settled into bed.

Conn fixed lunch for everyone and afterwards they went house hunting. The Slayer Mom stayed behind to watch over Faith while Buffy gave them the grand tour of Sunnydale. The housing market is Sunnydale was considered by most to be a "buyers" market, as there were usually a lot of well motivated sellers. The Red Moon pack however had some special needs considering there were 6 adults, 7 if you count Conn twice. It was as they were leaving the fourth house they looked at that Buffy had an idea.

"I know of a place that would be perfect for you guys. A friend of mine owns it. He might not be willing to sell it, but maybe he'd lease it to you guys or something. He lives in LA at the moment." She directed them to Angel's mansion on Crawford Street. On the way she already began to regret that she'd mentioned it. There were a lot of painful memories revolving around the place. 

When they arrived the pack could tell from the outside that the place was large enough to accommodate their needs. The place needs some work, but not much. Buffy led them up to the front doors, and dug out her key. 

"You know the guy who own's this place?" Asked Derrick.

"Yeah, Angel. It's.... complicated."

"Would that be Angel as in "Angel Investigations" in LA".

"Yeah, how did you know about that?"

"I came across the name when I was researching you and Sunnydale."

The pack toured the house. It needed a lot of cleaning up and some furniture, but was otherwise habitable. John however was getting some wierd vibes from the place and told everyone so.

Buffy made a decision. "Okay, I guess I need to come clean with you guys. You'll find out eventually anyway, so I'd rather you heard it from me. Angel is a Vampire."

That stopped everyone in their tracks. Krieg spoke up first. "So I guess the fact that you have the keys to his house means you're on speaking terms with him."

Buffy continued "I know how it sounds, but Angel has a soul. He was cursed by some gypsy in 18 whatever, and since then he's been fighting for the good guys, trying to make up for all the wrongs that he did as a vampire."

Hope came to stand in front of Buffy. She took both her hands in hers she looked Buffy in the eyes "Somehow I think there is more to this story".

"Oh yeah, lots more. He was my first.... everything." Buffy cast her eyes down at her own feet.

John shook his head and moved off to another room. Krieg was looked like he was about to make some sort of comment, but a look from Hope silenced him. "Tell us everything Buffy. If we're going to live here we'll need to know".

"We'll I guess the really big thing is that when Angel did not have his soul he was known as Angelus, the Scourge of Europe".

It only took a second for Derrick to make the connection "Angelus! Holy mis-match Batman!"

Everyone looked towards him "When I first started looking at Sunnydale, I had a chat with a Nosferatu Vamp I know. He's the one who told me about "Demon Vampires". He also mentioned a particularly nasty one by the name of Angelus. When I raided the Watchers data stores I used that as a keyword when I was indexing the data and found tons of references to him. None of them good from the few I actually read. The guy was a butcher!"

Angrily, Buffy confronted Derrick "That was Angelus, not Angel! My Angel is not like that, in fact his is a champion of the Light just like we are, only..."

"Only what Buffy" Hope prodded her.

"The Gypsy curse was just that, a curse. Angelus was cursed with a soul, in order to torment him. He'd remember all of the bad stuff he did for the rest of his existence. There was also a clause. If he ever experienced one moment of pure happiness, bye-bye soul, hello Angelus."

"And he was your first.. everything." Finished Hope.

"That's right, last year in January, I brought Angelus back. He terrorized us for months, he kill Jenny Calendar our teacher and Giles's girlfriend. He tortured Giles. All because of me." Buffy dropped Hopes hands and moveed off to stand where Acathla stood.

"Later that spring, he tried to raise the Demon Acathla and open the hellmouth. I stopped him, stabbing him with a sword. His spilled blood closed the gate and sucked him into hell. The real kicker was that Willow had been working all this time on restoring Angel's soul. Just before I stabbed him, Willow succeeded. I sent Angel to hell. It was the only way to close the gate."

Tears were coming down her cheeks now. Hope came up behind her and put her hand on her shoulders. "I fell apart after that. Mom had just discovered I was the Slayer and couldn't handle it. She kicked me out. I ran away. I eventually returned and patched things up with my Mom. Faith arrived and you know some of the things that went down with her. The "Powers that Be" saw fit to return Angel, bring him out of Hell, in October of that year. Things were never the same again between us. He eventually moved to L.A. to put some distance between us."

Hope turned her around to face her again. "And now?"

"There were a couple of guys Since Angel. Most were jerks, but I'm with an OK guy named Riley now. Things are starting to get better." Buffy wiped her eyes and seemed to shrug off the mental funk she dropped into. "Look, I was going to call Angel anyway and ask him about this Camarilla thing you guys were talking about. If I ask him about the mansion, he won't say no. So what to you think?"

John chose that moment to reappear. "The place needs to be cleansed. The Wyrm taint is evident. Between Hope and I we can take care of that. I don't see a problem with moving in once that is done. It's certainly big enough for us. Our only problem will be access to a caern. I know we won't find one here that will be suitable."

"We'll have to find some Garou in L.A. They should be able to help us" answered Hope.

Derrick added "I know a Glasswalker in L.A., he should know about the locals. I'll drop him a line."

"Okay, we'll if we're done here, lets head back to my place. I can't call Angel until after sunset anyway" concluded Buffy.

-----------

The rest of the Scoobies came over to Revello drive late that afternoon and with Faith propped up on the couch, they had another meeting of the minds. The Slayer-Mom was the first to object. "Shouldn't Faith be in bed?"  
  
"It's cool Mrs. S. I've been out of it too long. My body may still be out of it, but my brain is aching for action!"  
  
"Plus Mom, we've promised Faith that she won't be left out of things anymore. She's a part of this and needs the info" said Buffy.  
  
"Okay," looking over at Conn and Krieg Joyce added "but the minute she starts to drift off, I expect one of you big strong men to get her upstairs to bed."  
  
Playacting, Faith leaned back and put hand on her forehead. "Oooh, I think I feel those eyelids closing now…"  
  
Buffy playfully whacked Faith with a pillow. "Pay attention."  
  
Hope cleared her throat. "Okay, this is called an "after action debriefing" in military parlance. We don't do this all the time, only when we're bringing in new tactics or if something plainly goes wrong for us. I count fighting along side a Slayer and her team as new tactics. We go over what we did, and then maybe identify things we could have done better."  
  
"It worked, how could we have done better?" asked Willow.  
  
"There's always room for improvement."  
  
The group talked for about 30 minutes outlining the mission step by step. Faith was fascinated about what the group did for her. She felt tears welling up again. Those that did not cross over into the spirit world were equally fascinated by the description of the events.  
  
"Will I ever be able to cross over to the Umbra by myself?" asked Buffy.  
  
"I'm not sure. Mages can cross over. I imagine witch's can too." Hope said looking at Willow and Tara.  
  
"I-I have heard of it, b-but never considered trying" replied Tara, "at least not physically. I've had "out of body" experiences, but not like you described them.  
  
"There are other realms beside the Umbra. You probably reached one of the Dream realms Tara" explained Derrick. "The Dream realm is another one that overlaps with the physical world. It does not reflect the physical world's spirits, but rather the sub-consciousness of sleepers, literally."  
  
"The answer to your question Buffy," Derrick continued, "is maybe. Ever since Oz told me about Slayers I've been surreptitiously asking around my community about them. While not mentioning the word "Slayer" I've been asking if anyone ever encountered a human with preternatural strength. The answer I almost always got was "Vampire Ghoul". And again, a lot of the powers you exhibit are Vampire-like."  
  
Faith interrupted, "Wait, we got our Super Slayer mojo from Vamps?"  
  
"No, I don't think so. I think that you were given equal powers to fight them by Gaia. One person I ran into though brought up a possibility that might explain exactly what you two are. A man by the name of Sam Haine."  
  
Willow and Tara giggled. "Sam Haine?" Willow asked.  
  
"Yes, I know. I think he was born on that day and took the name. He's a Verbena mage, and has quite a reputation. He's never in the Web, but I ran into him at the Chantry in Seattle. He was just passing though, but I try to stay in touch with him. He mentioned something he called a "Physical Adept"".   
  
"The way he described it was that a Physical Adept was an Awakened being, in other words their Avatar is awake and aware. But a Physical Adept does not have the conscious ability to use magic, rather they themselves ARE magic incarnate."  
  
"Okay," said Xander "I think I speak for most of us when I say "Huh?""  
  
Derrick continued. "Physical Adepts are magical creatures with innate abilities, in this case superior strength, speed, agility and stamina. He said that he'd met one that had been captured by the Technocracy at an early age and they experimented with him. He managed to escape and overcome the programming the Technocracy tried to implant in him."  
  
"Does he know where to find this person?" asked Giles.  
  
"That was the very question I asked him. "No" was all he said. I tried to press him, but he wandered off the subject. Last night I contacted Hwa Sun Yun, the Akashic Brotherhood Mage I told you about. She is very intrigued and wants to meet the both of you. I've arranged for her to fly down next weekend."  
  
"The AK's practice an art they simply call "Do" or "The Way". Do practioners believe that superior strength, uncanny awareness and unshakeable courage are fruits from the tree of spiritual perfection. Sounds like a Slayer to me. Unfortunately they also believe that violence is a last resort. I've always felt that they were the ultimate oxymoron. They constantly train for battle, and constantly strive to avoid it."  
  
"I cornered Sunny about it once, she said that body is a cup; the soul is water. The stronger the cup, the more it holds. Thus, a Brother exercises his body constantly to strengthen the cup. His empathy for others translates into compassion for all beings, even his enemies. A well trained Brother seeks to reform his opponents, not destroy them."  
  
"Okay, so I'm supposed to hug Vamps instead of Slay them?" asked Buffy.  
  
"I think even the AK's would draw the line at that. They'd recognize that a demon is basically unredeemable. But they'd feel sorry for it as they were killing it. If anyone can tap into the secret of a Slayer's Avatar, it's them."  
  
"Well we shall look forward to what she has to say" Giles replied to Derrick. "Shall we now discuss what happens next? I'm curious to know what you and your Garou friend's intensions are."  
  
Hope spoke for all of them. "Our intentions when we came here was to uncover a few mysteries, and we've not really done that yet. Chief on our mind is; what is the Camarilla involvement here and the Technocracy Project."  
  
"Derrick mentioned that before, the Technocracy, who are they? Giles asked.  
  
"The Technocracy is a group of organizations that strive to keep reality static, and in their control. We Tradition mages fight them wherever we can. In the guise of "protecting humanity" they strive to make all humans conform to their version of a perfect world, which is Orwellian at best. They are mages, but hide their magic behind technology. The Virtual Adepts were actually a part of the Technocracy up until 1966 when we broke away."  
  
"The Tradition mages believe in Dynasism. That only through constant change and evolution can human beings transcend to the next level. The Technocracy has the opposite view. They call us "Reality Deviants" and actively hunt down Tradition mages to "rehabilitate" them. There are five basic factions, Iteration X, the Progenitors, the Void Engineers, the New World Order and the Syndicate. When I was searching for info on Sunnydale, I discovered that there is a Technocracy project based here made up of IX and Progenitor operatives called "The Initiative".  
  
Almost as one, the Scooby Gang turned and looked at Buffy.   
  
Buffy's response was "Crap".  
  
"Excuse me?" asked Derrick.  
  
"Buffy is dating one of them" said Anya.  
  
Now the Pack stares at her too. Buffy starts to sink into her seat.   
  
Incredulous, Derrick asks "You, the Slayer, are dating someone from the Technocracy?"  
  
"Well, in a way I guess. Riely, the guy I mentioned this afternoon, he's a U.S. soldier on loan to the Initiative. Agent Riley Finn to be exact." said Buffy. "Former Green Beret, he heads the HST retrieval teams. They basically round up demons, Hostile Sub-Terrestrials as they call them, and hand them over to the scientists. I I don't think he knows about this Techno thing though, the scientists on the project are probably your evil dooers. They put a chip in Spike's head to prevent him from harming human beings, so I thought they were working for our side. I pretty much discovered they were bad guys when they tried to kill me for getting to close to uncovering Experiment 314.""  
  
"Oz didn't mention anything about that." Derrick said accusingly.  
  
Willow defended him "Hey, Buffy had just broken up with Parker when he left. He'd met Riley, but didn't know he was with Buffy."  
  
"Yeah, Riley and I hooked up after Oz left town. Speaking of which, where is Oz."  
  
"He went to make nice with his family and The Dingos. He should be back to join us for patrol" said John.  
  
"My head is starting to hurt again" said Derrick. "What is Experiment 314?"  
  
Giles answered. "A demon/cyborg hybrid. Quite powerful. It killed the head of the project, a Dr. Margaret Walsh and escaped. Both Buffy and Agent Finn have come up against it and have not been able to destroy it. It actually goes by the name Adam."  
  
Buffy tells them the whole story. Taking Professor Walsh's class, meeting Riley, discovering the Initiative, actually going on missions with them until she learned too much and Walsh tried to have her killed. Adam's escape, Riley getting almost killed and deciding to play "double-agent" with the Initiative.  
  
"Okay, where is this Agent Finn now?" asked Hope.

Buffy looked out the front Window. By now it was nightfall, the sun setting early this time of year. "I don't know. He was patrolling with me the night we all met, but he got called away before you and the fur patrol arrived. I'm actually starting to get worried." Buffy got out her cell phone and dialed.  
  
"How about Adam? Do you know what happened to him?"  
  
"We don't know where he's hiding out, but the word is he's gathering other demons to him. We don't know exactly why, but it can not be good" Giles informed him.  
  
Everyone is silent for a few moments. Derrick finally breaks it. "Okay, from my perspective, the Initiative and the Adam creature are the biggest problem right now. Figuring out the whole Watcher/Camarilla thing can wait."  
  
Nods of agreement all around. "What about Riley?" asked Buffy.  
  
"Well, are we sure what side he's on?" asked Hope.  
  
"Yes, my side!" Buffy said emphatically.   
  
"No offense Buffy, but it may not be that simple. This whole double-agent thing may be a ruse."  
  
"No, I'm positive he's realized what they are about and he's against it." Buffy was adamant.   
  
"Alright," continued Derrick "well, we need to find him in any case."  
  
"I just paged him, and he's not called back yet. That's not like him."  
  
Willow asked a previous question again. "Um, the Sun's down. Where is Oz?"

-------------------------------------------------

TBC


	18. Chapter 17 Captain Cardboard

Captain Cardboard 

------------------------------------------  
Oz felt like he'd gone through a wringer. His Mom was furious over his apparent disappearance. The only reason she'd not filed a missing persons report was the Devon told her that Oz had left to find some gigs and would be back. Telling her that yes, there were no phones in the middle of the Amazon jungle would not have helped, so all he could say was sorry and he wouldn't let it happen again.  
  
Devon and the guys were just as bad. They'd felt betrayed. After the third month without Oz, they'd found a replacement. They insisted he was better then Oz anyway, so don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out.  
  
Krieg had once told Oz, "Garou make for great fighters, great lovers, and lousy mates. Both the romantic and friendship kind. Few manage to have any sort of relationships outside of the pack that last more than a few months. There are many reasons for this - duty, danger, the pack. As warriors for Gaia, werewolves feel a higher purpose. Somehow hanging with the boys and chasing chicks does not fit into that."

"Like police and firefighters, Garou face death on the line of duty every day, except that dangers for the Garou are much greater, the stresses on a Garou's outside relationships that much larger. Garou fight in packs, saving each other's lives, teaching one another, performing rituals, uncovering mysteries. The bond that is created amongst the pack is one that no outside relationship can truly intrude on."

And that summed it up. He felt regret at loosing the friendship of his now former band mates, but now he had his Pack. And a higher purpose.  
  
That higher purpose intruded on him now. The Sun had just set. He was riding the bike towards Revello Drive, when he spotted someone familiar. Spike, heading into the wooded area near UC Sunnydale. Oz found a place to park the bike and followed him. As soon as Oz hit the woods, he transformed into his full-wolf lupus form, he was more stealthy that way.

-----------------------------

Spike was in a quandary. The Demon/Cyborg Adam had made him an offer. Join him and he'd remove the chip in his head. At first he said yes. He'd help Adam destroy the Slayer, open the Hellmouth and take the first steps towards Demon rule of the planet. The problem was that Spike had also discovered that what Adam meant by demon rule was pretty much the annihilation of the human race.  
  
"_Sod that_" thought Spike. "_I like my Happy Meals the way they are thank you, all nice and warm, and alive. At least until I'm done with them_." And open the Hellmouth? He'd teamed up with Buffy to stop Angelus from doing that for the very same reason. Spike realized shortly after the Master tried it, that if he'd succeeded, Spike would no longer be the Big Bad around town. Not that he was now with that bloody chip and all, but that could be fixed.   
  
Of course if Adam would not remove it, then it was back to Captain Cardboard. Maybe he could trade info on Adam's whereabouts and his plans for removal of the Chip. Which was why Spike was heading towards the Initiatives installation, when he nearly ran Riley over.  
  
Riley instantly brought his weapon up. "Freeze!"  
  
"Now, now ducks, no need to fret about me remember?" Spike tapped his head "Chip in the old noggin."  
  
Riley relaxed, slightly. "Hostile 17. What do you want."  
  
Oz had heard most of the conversation with his extraordinary hearing. He circled around and made sure that he crept up on the pair down-wind from them, so Spike wouldn't be able to smell him. He hunkered down to avoid being spotted visually.  
  
"The name's Spike soldier boy and I've come to make a deal. You take out this chip, I'll tell you what Adam's up to.  
  
"The name's Agent Finn, demon scum, and why should I make a deal with you!"  
  
"Because mate, while you boy scouts are sitting on your arses, Adam is making big plans for this burg, and gathering forces."  
  
It was the "gathering forces" part that made Riley pause rather then just kill spike now. He didn't have time to ponder for long.  
  
"We knew you were a traitor Spike." Two demons appeared, slightly to Oz's right. They'd not spotted him, but he cursed himself for not noticing their approach.   
  
"Now you both die!" The demons leaped at both Spike and Riley. Riley began firing at one, but he was only packing a hand-gun, and the bullets didn't seem to phase the thing. It swatted the gun away and attacked. Spike was now in a wrestling match with the other, and loosing.  
  
Oz took this moment to break from the woods, transforming into Crinos as he went. He attacked the demon that was on Riley from behind, renting huge gouges in its back with his claws. Screaming in pain, it turned to fight Oz. One-on-one, this demon was no match for a Crinos form Garou, and Oz made quick work of it. Riley just stood back out of the way.  
  
When it went down, both Oz and Riley turned to the ongoing fight between Spike and his demon. Spike didn't seem to be doing so well. The thing hand him in a headlock and was pounding on him. Between punches, Spike managed to get out "A little help 'ere!"  
  
Oz just shrugged and joined the fight, pulling the thing off of Spike and going at it tooth and claw. Riley went searching for a big enough branch to use as a club and help out. Neither noticed Spike slip way.   
  
Oz and the demon were trading blows, when Oz managed to get a hold of its head, similar to the way it had Spike before. Oz however just got a good grip and broke its neck with a sickening snap. Oz was just drawing a breath to let go a victory Howl when his whole body was wracked with pain.  
  
Two Initiative troopers, armed with their heavy-duty stun guns were both zapping Oz. Despite his Garou physiology, he fell to the ground, unconscious.  
  
Taking their tactical masks off, Riley recognized Forrest and Graham.  
  
"You're AWOL Agent Finn" Forrest addressed him angrily. "You were restricted to Quarters. Sneaking off to see that girl Buffy again huh?"  
  
"Listen Forrest, what I do with Buffy is my business. And last time I checked, I outranked you."  
  
"The new director restricted you to the base, I was sent to retrieve you. Look Riley, I'm trying to be your friend here. Ever since you met her, you've been acting strange. One more foul up and they are going to bust you."  
  
They both stared at each other. Graham picked up his radio. "Unknown Hostile down, sector 2. Request retrieval team".  
  
"Roger, sector 2. HST Retrieval team in route."  
  
"Looking over at the unconscious Garou, Riley said "I'm not sure if this thing is hostile guys. It fought on MY side, not the demons."  
  
"Not for us to decide Riley, you know that. It's not human, therefore it's hostile. End of story."  
  
The retrieval team arrived moments later. The used heavy manacles to bind Oz's hands and feet, and then loaded him into the back of a van.   
  
"You too Riley" said Forrest. "Into the van."  
  
It looked like Riley was about to refuse, but he relented instead and walked to the van. Just before he entered, Graham stopped him. "Weapon?"  
  
Looking at him with contempt, Riley handed Graham his pistol and then got inside the vehicle.   
  
It was a short ride as they were so close to the Initiative's base. A gurney was brought up and Oz was loaded onto it. Forrest and Graham started to lead Riley towards the command section, but Riley stopped.  
  
"I want to talk to the scientists about this one. Its behavior was strange. I think they need to know about it."  
  
Riley could see Forrest's inner struggle. He needed to get Riley before their new commander, but if the scientists thought they were withholding info, there'd be hell to pay. "Alright, let's go."  
  
As they approached the lab section, they could see Oz laid out on the gurney, unconscious. The scientists are jabbing needles into him. Some are putting fluids into him, others are taking blood out. Riley stepped up to one of them.  
  
"Excuse me Doctor."   
  
The man turned, his annoyance at being disturbed clear on his face. "Yes, what is it?"  
  
"I wanted you to know that this creature behaved quite differently then others I've encountered. I was being attacked by two other HST's and this one jumped in to help."  
  
"Help? I doubt that. I've seen these things fight each other. It just probably thought you were not a threat to…."  
  
His voice faltered as before him and all the others in the room, Oz morphed back into his human form. That's when the light of recognition came on for Riley. "_Oz?_" he thought to himself.  
  
The scientists broke out of their moment of astonishment and began examining Oz anew. They were all very excited, like kids with a new toy.  
  
Riley noticed Oz begging to wake "He's coming to. Oz?"  
  
Oz tried to focus on Riley, but he was still very groggy. The bright lights were disorienting him and he can't make out the face in front of him.  
  
"He won't be able to talk for a while," the scientist tells Riley "we gave him Haldol to keep him quiet."  
  
Riley started to get angry "Why? The guy's not a threat now."  
  
"I will allow you to stay if you let us do our work, Agent Finn. Only Colonel McNamara can place a cease order on medical testing - and he's told us to proceed."  
  
Riley, frustrated, steps back as a tray arrives with another injection on it and a charged taser.  
  
Another scientist delivered the shot to Oz. "I've always suspected the stuff about werewolves' transformations being based on the lunar cycle was campfire talk." He took the taser and moved over to Oz.  
  
Riley, realizing what's happening tried to stop him. "That's enough! This guy's a student. I know him!"  
  
Now truly angered, the first scientist turned to a guard and said "Get him out of here."  
  
Riley is reluctantly led out by two MPs. The second scientist shocked Oz with a taser. Oz cried out and went Crinos. Restrained by tight straps and heavy medication, Oz didn't have the power to break free.  
  
Now, completely ignoring the fact that Riley was ever there, the two scientists started to compare notes "See that? Transformation related to negative stimulation..."  
  
The MPs brought Riley to the cell block and after searching him first, they threw him in the brig.

-------------------------------------------

Faith had finally succumbed to sleep. Krieg picked her up and brought her upstairs to put her to bed. The conversation moved outdoors where Conn was once again at the grill cooking. Burgers this time. Everyone was starting to get a little worried. Riley was still not answering his beeper, and Oz had not yet arrived.  
  
"Derrick, can you track Oz?" Hope asked.  
  
"If he was wearing his Spider Fetish I could call him, but I've already tried. I know his mind well enough to contact him without it, and that's not working either. That can be explained by proximity to the Hellmouth. I can locate the bike though, hold on." Derrick brought up his plamtop.  
  
Krieg stepped up to him. "Um Derrick, how can you trace MY bike?"  
  
"Simple, Lo Jack. I installed them on all our vehicles for just such an emergency. Got it. It's parked by a wooded area outside UC Sunnydale."  
  
"That's near the Initiative's underground complex" Buffy informed them. "Do you think he's in trouble?"  
  
"I'd say he was Slayer." Everyone looked over to see Spike approach the group. Spike didn't expect the big guy with the apron to be on him in a split second, grabbing him by his throat with one hand and lifting him in the air. The other hand was transforming into Crinos, just his hand and arm, complete with 6 inch long claws.  
  
"Wait Conn!" the Slayer shouted. "He's a vamp, but he's relatively harmless."  
  
Conn glared at him, but set Spike back on the ground. With his hand still around his neck Conn told Spike "One step in the wrong direction Wyrm scum and I'll 'ave ye guts for garters!"  
  
Derrick asked Willow "Is he the one with the Chip in his head?"   
  
"Yup"  
  
Derrick went back to his palmtop..  
  
"What do you want Spike?" Buffy asked curtly.   
  
"Take it easy Slayer. I want what I always want lately. Merry barrels full of cash in exchange for information."  
  
"That depends on what you have to offer. And it better be good, I'm not in the mood for your games."  
  
"Listen you silly bint I…Aaaaah!" Spike collapsed to his knees, holding his head.  
  
"Cool!" exclaimed Derrick. "I've accessed the chip in his head. The programming is rather simple. I can activate it anytime I want."  
  
Krieg grabbed Spike by the collar. "Listen leech. You either tell us what you came here for, or I give you back to the big guy, but not before I let the computer geek make mush out of your brain, got that?"  
  
Clearly still in pain, Spike replies "Slayer, your taste in friends is becoming more, dangerous."  
  
"Spill it Spike. Then we decide if you live."  
  
"Right. Was on my way to see your Captain Cardboard when we both got jumped by a pair of Adam's demons."  
  
Now it was Buffy's turn to grab Spike by the collar and lift him off the ground. "Where is he, is he alright? Tell me Spike or so help me…"  
  
"Relax Slayer, if you kill me I can't answer your questions can I?"  
  
"How do you know the demons were Adam's?" asked Giles.  
  
"Cause I've been hanging with the Frankenstein wannabe last few days or so. Thought I'd throw in with him till I found out 'es another one of those "end the world" types. I like the world the way it is. I was going to spill to Buffy's Boy Scout when we got jumped. We were putting up a good fight when along came Little Red Riding Hood's wolf."  
  
Willow gasped "Oz?"  
  
"In the fur. Must say the boy has improved. Took out the demon on soldier-boy and then took mine away from me, just when I was getting the upper hand mind you. I slipped away, but turned back long enough to see two more of those bloody Initiative bastards hit the fur ball with those tasers of theirs. Took him down and carted him and soldier-boy away."  
  
Both Conn and Krieg started to growl. Hope grabbed them both by the arm "Down boys, we'll get him back. Derrick, have you managed to tap into the place?"  
  
"No, but I've not tried very hard. This is an Iteration X facility guys, they've got some tricks of their own. I didn't want to risk discovery until it was absolutely necessary."  
  
Buffy stepped up in front of him. "It's necessary."  
  
"Okay, but I need to go elsewhere, a place more secure." He looked knowingly at the pack.  
  
The pack all looked at Spike, who suddenly felt like a piece of meat in a butchers display. "Now hold on mates…"  
  
John looked at Conn, "Fessick, jog his memory."  
  
Conn smiled, raised his fist and hammered Spike on top of the head. He collapsed in a heap. "I guess I jogged too 'ard!"  
  
"Ooh, Princess Bride! I love that movie!" Willow said excitedly.  
  
John smiled "So do we! Since we can't stake him, I suggest some chains. Know where we can get some?"   
  
Buffy replied. "Yeah, in the basement, I'll be right back."  
  
Looking at Xander, John asked "She keeps chains in the basement?"  
  
"I know. The mental imagery can go lots of different ways."  
  
Buffy returned with a large box that gave a heavy thud when she dropped it on the floor. "Have at it guys." John and Xander proceeded to secure Spike. While doing so, Derrick got up, and using his palmtop he opened a portal to the Garage in Seattle. "We'll stash him here for the time being. JYD can keep an eye on him."  
  
"Um, where is here?" asked Giles.  
  
"Our place in Seattle" said Derrick. "JYD is another Garou who watches the place for us. He'll like the chance to torment a Vampire."   
  
When they were done, Xander and John dragged Spike through the portal. "Wow, you mean we just traveled over a thousand miles north?"   
  
John smiled "Freaky ain't it?"  
  
JYD came up, sniffed at both Xander and Spike. He growled at Spike. John filled him in and asked him to baby sit.  
  
Buffy looked at the portal "Neat. Can you do that into the middle of the Initiative lab?"  
  
"Probably not. They'll be warded against it. Once I'm in my secure facility, I'll try and see how far I can get in. Can you get into the place yourself?"  
  
"Well, they gave me access codes, if they are still valid I can."   
  
"Okay, all of you haul ass over there. By the time you arrive I should have some more intel." Derrick looked over at Willow and Tara. "You two don't seem like the "let's raid an armed encampment" types. Want to come with me?"  
  
"W-where?" asked Tara.  
  
"The Digital Web. It's a part of the spirit world. It will be disorienting at first, but it'll be fun!"  
  
Willow demurred, "Um, I think we should stay with Buffy."  
  
"No Willow, you should go. Leave the commando type stuff to Giles, Xander and me."  
  
"Um, okay. How do we…"  
  
"Just stand next to me like before." They all got up and the girls came over to stand next to Derrick. He had his palmtop out and began keying in more instructions. Borrowing lines again he said "Energize!" and they all disappeared in a swirl of colors.  
  
Xander stared at where the three were just standing "I so want to try that."  
  
"Better you then me" replied John. "We'll let's move out."  
  
Derrick and the girls re-appeared in the Digital Web outside the Bat Cave.   
  
"Where is this place?" asked Willow.  
  
As he once again checked his tell tales to make sure no one was snooping around, Derrick explained. "We are in the Digital Web. A kind of pocket dimension that exists in the Umbra."  
  
They were standing in front a sphere, about 20 feet in diameter. It had numerous cables coming into it, connecting like some type of cyber umbilical cord. Of course standing was a relative term. They were on something firm, but there was nothing under their feet. Both girls felt a little nauseous.  
  
"This is a construct I created, my Sanctum Sanctorum. It gives me a secure place to study and to work." Satisfied that no one had been snooping, Derrick placed his hand on a plate next to the door, spoke his name and opened the door. Holding it open, he bowed to the girls and said "Entrée vou."   
  
The first thing they noticed was the inside was far more vast then the outside. It was also a rather dreary place, made to look like a cave. Along one wall was an array of computer monitors. Sitting himself down in front of the console, Derrick began waving his hands around, kicking off even more security programs. They checked the local area for anything unusual, and also begin randomizing the data paths he'd use to conduct his assault against the Initiative from here.  
  
The girls came to stand beside him. "These systems are way advanced" exclaimed Willow.   
  
Tara felt a little lost. Computers were Willows deal, not hers.  
  
Derrick looked over at them. "Uh, sorry." Waving his hands around two more chairs appeared. "You two are actually the first visitors I've had in the place." Reaching to the cooler that was attached to his chair, he fished out two bottles. "Mountain Dew?"  
  
"No thanks" they both said. Derrick just shrugged and opened one for himself.   
  
Willow asked "There are no keyboards, how are you entering information?"  
  
"Your standard keyboard is limited. There's a sensor field linked to the chair that forms a sort of a cylinder around me. The field can detect the positions of my hands and fingers. I use gestures for command macros and keystrokes, something like sign language. With this, I can express thousands of commands, and much faster. There's also voice recognition for straight typing." Handing Willow a pair of headphones he said "Here, put these on."   
  
Willow took them. Examining them quickly, she saw that they looked like any normal set of wireless stereo headphones. She put them on. Derrick waved his hands again, and suddenly Willow felt this extreme rush of information hit her, images, sounds, diagrams. It was like watching a movie, compressed into 3 seconds.  
  
"Wow, what was that?"  
  
"That was VA 101. The headphones created a neural/aural interface with your brain and I downloaded all of the basic techniques used by the Virtual Adepts, including some basic rotes. The drawback to doing it this is that its "cheap info". It will fade quickly unless it's reinforced by you actually making use of it. You should be able to use this deck now."  
  
Willow extended both her hands into the field, and suddenly before her images appeared, icons of all sorts. They surrounded her. She could still see Derrick and Tara, and the screens in front of her. Cautiously, she reached out and touched an icon. It expanded before her, showing its contents. Almost instinctively she began to manipulate data and programs that were resident on the Bat Cave's systems, faster then she could believe.  
  
Willow was in heaven."This is amazing…"  
  
"Yes it is. I'll remind you though that these are my toys. We'll get you your own later."  
  
Now Tara was beginning to feel left out. "_Maybe I should have stayed behind_," she thought to herself. Derrick seemed to sense her dismay.  
  
"Don't worry Tara, you have a part in this too," he reassured her.  
  
"I d-do?"  
  
"Yup, you are still Willow's focus until she picks up a few more. If we run into any real problems, you'll need to be her touchstone. Plus this can be dangerous. I've come close to dying on some of the runs I've made. Intrusion Countermeasures, called Black IC, can send bio feedback loops that can fry you. Normally I do this alone, but I think we'll take advantage of you being here."  
  
Derrick entered a few more commands, and a screen appeared in front of Tara. It looked a lot like the monitors you'd see hooked up to a hospital patient. There were two sets, one marked Derrick, another marked Willow.  
  
"These are our life signs. If you see some of them behaving abnormally, that might mean we are being attacked. You can try lending us your strength to help us fight. You don't have to know the computer end, we'll deal with that. I know this is not really your gig. When we have time, I'll introduce you to someone who can help you on your path."  
  
Tara felt a little better, knowing she'd be of some use.  
  
Derrick began a scan of the Initiative compound, a passive, non-intrusive scan. He immediately detected the Intrusion Countermeasures and wards they had wrapped around the place which would have prevented him from simply porting in. He could bust through, but not without alerting them he'd done so.  
  
Willow was searching for the bases exterior connections. Few such places were totally isolated. Power lines, data lines, phone lines, all needed to connect the place to the outside world. Bingo. She found they were running off of city power. That could be cut easily, but they probably had backup. They also had a pair of T-carriers, both voice and data.  
  
Willow informed him. "I found their power connections and T-carriers supplying them."  
  
"Okay standby." Streaming through the data T, he ran smack into a firewall.  
  
But, it was one he'd cracked while he was still in diapers. "Don't these people know about updates?" he said. He got around that easily enough with a few choice rotes he'd come up with for the purpose. Next was to find his way to the security systems. He inserted a sniffer into their network and started capturing packets. He'd be able to identify every node on their network and what services they were running.  
  
That would take a few minutes, so he checked in with the teams. "Buffy, Hope? Willow and I are both in their systems."  
  
"_Already_?" asked Buffy.  
  
"Hey, the VA's taught these people everything they know about computer networks, but not everything WE know. We've been low-key so far, just doing a discover to find what's there. I've not found Oz yet though. I'll be able to tap there security cams in a minute."  
  
"_Okay we've just arrived at Lowell house. There's an elevator inside that goes to the complex. If my ID's are still intact, it should just let me in_."  
  
Derrick piped back in. "Wait one…. Your ID is still there, but has been disabled…. and now its not. You should be able to walk right in. I just found Oz on their security cams. He's located in a lab facility, and he's with some scientist types. I'm not sure about your Agent Finn."  
  
Derrick had more wonderful news. "Who ever designed the place included some extras in the construction. Certain parts of the facility are warded against being able to teleport in and out of. Namely what appears to be the demon containment cells and the lab facility where Oz is. I think this was more to keep the demons in then us out, but it works both ways."  
  
"Buffy," interjected Willow "I think I found out why things have been light for you lately. The place where they keep all the demons? It's packed to the rafters. If there was such a thing as a Demon Rights organization they'd be suing the pants off of the Initiative. I'd say there are at least 100 or more down there."  
  
Giles appeared almost apoplectic "_Over one h-hundred demons in one place. My God, what were they thinking_?"   
  
"There are a few places that I should be able to open a gate to without setting off the wards. My recommendation is that Buffy goes in alone through the front door. It will look too suspicious if you all show up. Xander, Giles and the Pack get armed up and stand-by. Once you're in Buffy, try to locate Finn. Don't even let on about Oz. Once you've got Finn, try to get to Oz. We'll go from there. If it all goes to hell, I'll open a gate and send in the Marines."  
  
Buffy looked around at the assembled warriors. "Is that acceptable with everyone?" No one disagreed.  
  
Hope said "Okay Scoobies, come over to the van."  
  
Hope opened the back of the van. Sitting there were four duffle bags. Hope started unloading them onto the ground.   
  
Xander opened one up. "Holy shit!" He pulled out an H&K Assault rifle.   
  
"Xander, do be careful with that," Muttered Giles.  
  
"Relax G-Man." Xander proceeded to manipulate the weapon like an expert, inspecting it to make sure it was in proper working order. He loaded a magazine and chambered a round.  
  
The rest of the bags included other commando-type gear. Weapons harnesses, rappelling gear, grenades of various types. And more guns. Conn pulled out a small hard case which contained his Dessert Eagle 50 Caliber.   
  
Xander was in his element "Man, I could take on a small army with this stuff."  
  
"That's exactly what we are doing" noted Buffy. They all began to suit up. Buffy kept it simple. She remained in her street clothes but tucked a small handgun into her waistband. Xander and Giles fitted themselves out to give a SWAT team a run for their money.  
  
"Everybody set?" ask Buffy.  
  
"As we'll ever be" replied Giles.  
  
"Let's go."

------------------------------------------------------

TBC  



End file.
